Surveillance for surgical site infections: the uses of antibiotic exposure.
Conventional methods of surveillance for surgical site infections are resource intensive, thus creating an incentive to develop simpler alternatives. Antibiotic exposure may serve as a satisfactory marker for a physician's belief that infection is present and, therefore, may be a more efficient, and perhaps more accurate, measure than identification of an explicit diagnosis in the medical record. Surveillance strategies that use antibiotic exposure may provide resource-efficient adjuncts for surveillance of surgical site infections or be used in selected circumstances as substitutes for conventional surveillance methods.
Yokoe
D S
DS
Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Platt
R
R
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents