Algorithm to reduce unnecessary isolation days in patients with a history of colonization by antimicrobial-resistant organisms

Dominik Mertz; Khuloud Nuri; Cindy O'Neill; Mark Loeb; Hamilton Health Sciences Infection Prevention and Control Team

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2013.04.013

Algorithm to reduce unnecessary isolation days in patients with a history of colonization by antimicrobial-resistant organisms

Am J Infect Control. 2013 Nov;41(11):1119-21. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2013.04.013. Epub 2013 Jul 20.

Authors

Dominik Mertz¹, Khuloud Nuri, Cindy O'Neill, Mark Loeb; Hamilton Health Sciences Infection Prevention and Control Team

Affiliation

¹ Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: mertzd@mcmaster.ca.

PMID: 23880117
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2013.04.013

Abstract

To determine the need of isolation precautions upon admission, we created and tested an algorithm based on a total of 474 patients with a history of carriage of an antibiotic-resistant organism. Using the algorithm upon patient admission reduced unnecessary isolations by almost 60% while maintaining a high sensitivity to predict persisting antibiotic-resistant organism colonization.

Keywords: Carrier; MRSA; Management; Precautions; Screening; VRE.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Algorithms*
Bacterial Infections / microbiology*
Carrier State / microbiology*
Cross Infection / microbiology*
Cross Infection / prevention & control*
Drug Resistance, Bacterial*
Humans
Patient Isolation / methods*
Time Factors