title: [Development of a microbiology data warehouse (Akita-ReNICS) for networking hospitals in a medical region].
abstract: The active involvement of hospital laboratory in surveillance is crucial to the success of nosocomial infection control. The recent dramatic increase of antimicrobial-resistant organisms and their spread into the community suggest that the infection control strategy of independent medical institutions is insufficient. To share the clinical data and surveillance in our local medical region, we developed a microbiology data warehouse for networking hospital laboratories in Akita prefecture. This system, named Akita-ReNICS, is an easy-to-use information management system designed to compare, track, and report the occurrence of antimicrobial-resistant organisms. Participating laboratories routinely transfer their coded and formatted microbiology data to ReNICS server located at Akita University Hospital from their health care system's clinical computer applications over the internet. We established the system to automate the statistical processes, so that the participants can access the server to monitor graphical data in the manner they prefer, using their own computer's browser. Furthermore, our system also provides the documents server, microbiology and antimicrobiotic database, and space for long-term storage of microbiological samples. Akita-ReNICS could be a next generation network for quality improvement of infection control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infection Control and Prevention, Infection Control Team, Akita University Hospital, Akita 010-8543, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigeharu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ueki
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kayaba
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tomita
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Tomoe
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Toshikage
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Obara
authors.forename: Masahide
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Moritoki
authors.forename: Masamichi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Itoga
authors.forename: Wataru
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ohsaga
authors.forename: Katsuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kondoh
authors.forename: Junichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chihara
mesh_terms: D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D019058:Community Networks; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D016208:Databases, Factual; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D019451:Information Management / Q000379:methods*; D007564:Japan; D008829:Microbiology