ICNET - The Benefits

ICNet facilitates the management and surveillance of healthcare associated infections at a local level, while enabling regional level surveillance. It uses laboratory based data, complemented by ward level surveillance and links to the hospital information system, thus incorporating alert organisms (eg. MRSA) detected by the laboratory, alert conditions (eg. wound infection) detected by clinicians and alert admissions (eg. MRSA carrier) detected by the hospital information system, into a single, easy to use database.

Benefits include:

• > Significant time savings on data entry, since the patient's demographic details, ADTs (Admission, Discharge and Transfer) as well as alert organisms are downloaded via electronic interface. 

• > The infection control team specifies the risk factors and associated features to be collected for action and reporting. 

• > Early warning alerts of specific admissions or clusters of results prompting action, eg. screening or isolation. 

• > Accurate and quick outbreak reporting. 

• > Significant time savings on report creation, since ICNet supports on-demand, customizable data and graphical reporting. 

• > Mobile ICNet option available.

The database is patient-centered. Each patient can have a number of infection control episodes during their lifetime, and each case may involve a number of alert organisms, conditions or surgical procedures.

A case is a period of infection control interest in a patient. If a patient has an open case, new results are added to this case, otherwise a new case is created. The case is closed when an infection control practitioner decides that the period of infection control interest has ended.