Comparison of effectiveness and required time of two surveillance methods in intensive care patients.
The intensive care unit (ICU) standardized protocol of the NNIS (National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance) system is a surveillance method of hospital acquired infections (HAI), which provides device-associated infection rates. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness and the required time for data collection and analysis of a selective surveillance method (SSM) derived from the NNIS ICU surveillance protocol, and to compare its data with that of a reference surveillance method (RSM). The sensitivity, specificity and the positive predictive value (PPV) of the RSM were 87.5, 100 and 100%, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity and the PPV of the SSM were 59.4 97.6 and 79.2%, respectively. Considering device-related infections only (ventilator-related pneumonia, catheter-related urinary tract infections, central line-related sepsis), the sensitivities of the RSM and the SSM were 80.9 and 90.5%, respectively. The SSM required only one third of the time of the RSM (1.1 h and 3.4 h per 10 beds per week with the SSM and the RSM, respectively). We conclude that the SSM has a very high sensitivity for detecting device associated infections, but is not sensitive enough for surveying all types of HAI.
Boulétreau
A
A
University Hospital of Nancy, Germany.
Dettenkofer
M
M
Forster
D H
DH
Babikir
R
R
Hauer
T
T
Schulgen
G
G
Daschner
F D
FD
D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000592:standards*; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000592:standards*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance; D013997:Time Factors