Volume 10, Number 9, September 2004

Computer Algorithms To Detect Bloodstream Infections

William E. Trick,* Brandon M. Zagorski,† Jerome I. Tokars,* Michael O. Vernon,† Sharon F. Welbel,†‡§ Mary F. Wisniewski,†‡ Chesley Richards,* and Robert A. Weinstein†‡§
*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; †Chicago Antimicrobial Resistance Project, Chicago, Illinois, USA; ‡Cook County Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, USA; and §Rush Medical College, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Figure 2. Flowchart displaying the number of blood cultures eligible for evaluation and the number evaluated by investigator review, infection control professional review, and computer algorithm at A) Cook County Hospital (CCH) and B) Provident Hospital (PH), September 1, 2001–February 28, 2002, Chicago, Illinois. ^aAt CCH, 12 medical records were unavailable for investigator review; three positive blood cultures were not evaluated by an infection control professional; and two positive blood cultures did not have culture dates stored electronically and, thus, were inaccessible to the computer algorithm. ^bAt PH, three medical records were unavailable for investigator review, five positive blood cultures were not evaluated by an infection control professional, and one positive blood culture was not in the data warehouse (this blood culture isolate also was not documented in the medical record).

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This page last reviewed August 3, 2004

Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal
National Center for Infectious Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention