title: Health care-associated infection reporting: the need for ongoing reliability and validity assessment.
abstract: Government-mandated reporting of health care-associated infections (HAIs) and new reimbursement regulations place a premium on accurate and reliable detection of HAIs. This commentary addresses the challenges and opportunities of having consistent, well-defined, and continuous methods in place to ensure the reliability and validity of HAI detection and reporting. In addition, such procedures could support the development and expertise of infection preventionists. A Web-based clinical vignette model is suggested for improving HAI reporting for hospitals participating in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Cambridge, MA, USA. rperla@ihi.org
authors.forename: Rocco J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Perla
authors.forename: Carol J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Peden
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Goldmann
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lloyd
mesh_terms: D003428:Cross Infection / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D018563:Disease Notification / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014481:United States