Table 4 Expert panel’s evaluation of SAB rates as an outcome indicator
Topic | Infection control indicators |
|---|---|
Indicator details | |
Description | Incidence of hospital acquired Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB rates) per 10,000 inpatient days. Rates are reported monthly for publicly funded acute care hospitals |
Type | Outcome |
Applicable accreditation standards | |
NSQHSS | Standard 3—preventing and controlling healthcare associated infections [15] |
ACHS EQuIP | |
| Â | Scores | Evaluation discussion summary |
|---|---|---|
Assessment criteria | ||
Research | Medium to high | There is extensive research on hand hygiene and other infection control mechanisms in reducing infection rates. [21, 22, 26, 27, 29] However, there is little evidence that the process of accreditation has an impact on infection rates |
Accuracy | Low to medium | A medium to low score was allocated due to the broad nature of the infection control standard that also includes anti-microbial stewardship and specialist cleaning policies |
Proximity | High | Results are collected monthly as part of routine reporting |
No adverse effects | High | Results are publicly available with a known target incidence rate but are routinely collected and can be corroborated with pathology lab reports |
Specificity | Low | There are a number of policies and initiatives aimed at improving hospital acquired infection (see associated programmes below) |
Associated programs | Related programs initiated by state or federal governments or healthcare agencies | Anti-microbial Stewardship Initiative [31] National Infection Control Guidelines [32] Clean Hands Save Lives project [33] National Hand Hygiene Initiative [24] NSW Infection Control Policy [34] |