Software Targets Infection Control

The Veterans Affairs (VA) Salt Lake City Healthcare System recently implemented TheraDoc's Infection Control Assistant (ICA). The software provides infection-control practitioners the time and opportunity to quickly intervene and educate, rather than spending time gathering data they need to identify, quantify, and control infection outbreaks. Furthermore, TheraDoc's capabilities create a cost-effective way of complying with the latest infection-control strategies established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

The ICA includes the following standard components:

• Infection surveillance and reporting
• Notifiable disease surveillance and reporting
• Quick guides for infections, organisms, and isolation precautions
• Preventive health surveillance
• Customized reporting

TheraDoc's ICA features integrated monitoring and data collection that support infection-control initiatives in real time. "Traditional manual reviews and other systems use retrospective methods, which provide only a view of the past. The ICA provides infection-control practitioners with the ability to identify emerging trends, so they can intervene concurrently to avoid and mitigate infections, their effects, and attendant costs,"explained Scott Walker, vice president of strategic development at TheraDoc.