Impact of electronic surveillance
The use of electronic surveillance systems for healthcare associated infections (HAIs) is growing in acute care settings. De Bruin et al in their systematic review of published literature evaluating electronic HAI surveillance systems, found that electronic surveillance achieves equal or better sensitivity than manual surveillance and found several studies reporting time savings of 60–99.9% for hospital staff.
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association 14 January 2014
The goal
IPSNP has deployed its Hydra Hospital Surveillance system in a pilot at a leading US tertiary medical centre. The purpose is to achieve targeted early intervention in cases at risk of sepsis facilitated by real time electronic surveillance. The technology operates by checking patient data for multitude HAI diagnostic elements in hospital databases/electronic health records. Retrospective case analyses show significant early Sepsis detection potential.
First stage results
The results for specificity and sensitivity achieved at the end of this first stage in the deployment pilot compare well with those reviewed by De Bruin et al.
Culture of excellence
Clinicians involved in the pilot have spoken enthusiastically about the user interface. The diagrammatic representation of the query under development, framed using terminology that is easy to follow, has intensified communication and collaboration within the hospital team. “Everyone is involved is trying to work our how to provide speedier identification and response to sepsis”.
A clear business case
The business case for our technology is clear:
- Patients are less likely to be discharged and then subjected to a costly readmission
- Clinical time is preserved and better targeted, supporting 24/7 healthcare delivery
- The productivity of clinical data analysts is enhanced with one Hydra trained analyst able to do far more
- Hydra frees the organisation legacy data analysis tools and from costly dependence on vendors for development of new or modified queries