Software helps fight superbugs

Hospitals can now use computer software to help them stop the spread of infection.

The ICNet software pulls information from various hospital systems such as laboratory and patient administration software, and flags possible outbreaks of infection quickly to help hospital staff manage them, says Mark Cox, director of the software's New Zealand reseller, Sysmex.

For example, a patient who has undergone an operation could develop a superbug, and "his room-mates may have long gone to other wards or been discharged. Yet they may have the infection or spread the infection".

ICNet will alert staff to the possible outbreak and identify where the patients are in the hospital. "Many hospital systems can't join together the dots immediately, recognising the start of a potential outbreak, until the hospital has an escalating problem," Mr Cox says.

The software can flag if two or three patients in the same area of the hospital have the same bug, indicating a spread of infection.

"You can identify it early and all occurrences of it. With a manual system, it takes longer to do this and you can miss things." Jo Stodart, chairwoman of the national division of infection control nurses, says some hospitals and healthcare organisations use paper-based systems to identify and control infections, while others use software – but not all programs could "talk" to other systems like ICNet.

The software "makes a lot of sense" but is only one tool in the fight against infection. "It's still really important to think about environmental and human factors."

Mr Cox says the ICNet software, developed by a British firm of the same name and used by 1000 hospitals worldwide, also reduces the time staff spend reporting on infection control.

A 2003 New Zealand study puts the cost of hospital-acquired infections at $137 million a year, while hospital infections in the United States are believed to cost US$4.5 billion (NZ$6.1b) and result in as many as 100,000 deaths a year.

Superbug outbreaks in hospitals are reasonably common, with Dunedin, North Shore, Waikato and Tokoroa hospitals all battling serious infections in the past two years, Mr Cox says.

Hospitals can expect to pay between $50,000 and $200,000 for the software.

- © Fairfax NZ News