title: Hospital-acquired infections in the United States. The importance of interhospital comparisons.
abstract: To use infection rates as a basis for measuring quality of care, the rates must be meaningful for interhospital comparison. A crude, overall nosocomial infection rate of a hospital provides no means of adjustment for patients' intrinsic or extrinsic risks. Before interhospital comparison, rates should be adjusted for nosocomial infection risk factors. Interhospital comparison of rates requires that a hospital participate in a multicenter surveillance system or aggregated national database. This article outlines a series of questions for hospital administrations to pose before entering such an endeavor.
authors.affiliation: Hospital Infections Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
authors.forename: L K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Archibald
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Gaynes
mesh_terms: D003428:Cross Infection / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D012306:Risk; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology