|
The
ultimate goal of the surveillance process is to identify your high-risk patients as well
as high-risk procedures so policies and procedures can be implemented to decrease the risk
of infections in those areas. By collecting information on what organisms are found in
your facility you will be able to identify an new organism that may be introduced in your
hospital environment. An example of this may be you have never seen a case of vancomycin
resistant enteococcus in you facility when you review your lab work today you notice one
case. With this information you would want to implement procedures to be sure it does not
spread to other patients. One case of an organism you have never seen in your facility may
be enough to alert you that you have the beginning of an outbreak. If you see a decrease
in infections you know that the prevention measures you have in place are working. But at
some point in the future you seen the numbers of infections rise again you know you will
have to review your control measure. Educating other co-workers to what they should be
alert about when they are reviewing their patients charts will assist in the prevention of
outbreaks or adverse outcomes for your patients. |