Documentation and data are essential to effective infection prevention and control. Of course, it’s not just important to collect data; it needs to be accessible in real time, and your team needs to understand how to analyze and use information to identify trends, red flags, and opportunities for quality improvement.

 “An infection and prevention and control solution that is part of your electronic medical record should focus on issues such as antibiotic stewardship, including MDRO counts, antibiotic timeouts, and prescription patterns,” said Danielle Nelson, vice president of product management at PointClickCare. Analytics should enable facilities and their teams to track infection rates.

Real-time data is also key to enabling the team to ensure appropriate EBP use. “The care team can easily identify residents who meet the revised guidance on the use of EBPs as part of infection prevention and control. At the same time, clinicians can see in real time if a resident has an infection including one related to a wound; and they can see if a resident came in with some sort of infection or contracted one while in the facility.  All this information is essential for effective infection control; and it ensures the whole team is on the same page and that there are no gaps in care,” said Nelson. She added, “It’s really important that a clinician at bedside is immediately able to see that this resident is under infection control protocols, including the use of EBP.”

Ensuring that clinicians know at the point of care if there is an issue and enabling them to measure the outcomes of their interventions is essential, especially as we move into the world of value-based care. “If you can identify an issue by analyzing your outcomes, you know immediately if you need to implement change; so to me, analytics is key,” said Nelson. ​