Public reporting of infection rates as  quality indicators

Cheng, Allen C; Bass, Pauline; Scheinkestel, Carlos; Leong, Tim

doi:10.5694/mja11.10778

Topics

To the Editor: Echoing Scott and colleagues’ recent call for caution regarding the use of hospital standardised mortality ratios for benchmarking and public reporting,1 we have concerns about the use of infection rates as hospital quality indicators.

Alfred Health, Melbourne, VIC.

Correspondence: allen.cheng@monash.edu

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

1. Scott IA, Brand CA, Phelps GE, et al. Using hospital standardised mortality ratios to assess quality of care — proceed with extreme caution. Med J Aust 2011; 194: 645-648. <MJA full text>
2. Horan TC, Andrus M, Dudeck MA. CDC/NHSN surveillance definition of health care-associated infection and criteria for specific types of infections in the acute care setting. Am J Infect Control 2008; 36: 309-332.
3. Sexton DJ, Chen LF, Anderson DJ. Current definitions of central line-associated bloodstream infection: is the emperor wearing clothes? Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2010; 31: 1286-1289.
4. McBryde ES, Brett J, Russo PL, et al. Validation of statewide surveillance system data on central line-associated bloodstream infection in intensive care units in Australia. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2009; 30: 1045-1049.
5. Friedman ND, Bull AL, Russo PL, et al. An alternative scoring system to predict risk for surgical site infection complicating coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2007; 28: 1162-1168.
6. Friedman ND, Russo PL, Bull AL, et al. Validation of coronary artery bypass graft surgical site infection surveillance data from a statewide surveillance system in Australia. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2007; 28: 812-817.

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