SENTINEL EVENT TRACKING NETWORK (SETNET)

Description (provided by applicant): Hospital-acquired (nosocomial) infections cost an estimated $4.5 billion in 1995 and contributed to over 88,000 deaths. Surveillance, control and prevention of these infections is the work of Infection Control Professionals (ICPs) and hospital epidemiologists, however the detection of nosocomial infections and outbreaks is time consuming and inexact; much infection-related data is not routinely analyzed. Sentinel Event Tracking Network (SETNET) as a system is composed of several steps: data is extracted from facility data systems on a daily basis, transferred via internet, then converted, filtered, and imported into a primary database. Standard analyses and pattern detection algorithms are run against the data and reports are posted to a web-database available to participating institutions. Summary reports and alerts for events needing prompt investigation are emailed to ICPs and hospital epidemiologists at each institution. The goal of SETNET is to transform raw hospital level data into readily available and comprehensible information for use by hospital epidemiologists and Infection Control Professionals. Specific aims are to facilitate the routine review of microbiology data by ICPs, to improve detection of infection trends and clusters, and to provide benchmarking of nosocomial infections for hospital-to-hospital comparisons. The predictive value of the detection functions will be evaluated and reported. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: Hospital-acquired infections affect 5% of hospital admissions, causing substantial non-reimbursed expenses for the institution. Surveillance is well established as a necessary and effective component of infection control. For an annual subscription fee SETNET will provide detection, trending, and benchmarking functions that will contribute to improved patient outcomes and reduced hospital expenditures.