Variability of rates relative to computer algorithm suggests wide variation across medical centers
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 10 (HealthDay News) -- There appears to be significant variation across medical centers in the performance of traditional central line-associated bloodstream infection (BSI) surveillance, according to a study in the Nov. 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Michael Y. Lin, M.D., of the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and colleagues compared BSI rates determined by infection preventionists for 20 intensive care units in four medical centers against rates for the same medical centers based on a computer algorithm reference standard.
The researchers found a weak correlation between median BSI rates reported by infection preventionists (a median of 3.3 infections per 1,000 central line-days) and by the computer algorithm (9.0 infections per 1,000 central line-days) (P = 0.34). Point estimates for individual medical center correlations varied widely. The medical center with the lowest rate determined by surveillance (2.4 infections per 1,000 central line-days) had the highest rate calculated by computer algorithm (12.6 infections per 1,000 central line-days).
"Institutional variability of infection preventionist rates relative to a computer algorithm reference standard suggests that there is significant variation in the application of standard central line-associated BSI surveillance definitions across medical centers. Variation in central line-associated BSI surveillance practice may complicate interinstitutional comparisons of publicly reported central line-associated BSI rates," the authors write.
Abstract
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