Tab Article

Hospital-acquired infections are a major cause of death and morbidity among hospital patients. It is well documented that lapses in infection control have enormous potential cost to the hospital (each additional infection costing between GBP200 and GBP3000 per patient). Education in infection control policies for all hospital staff and easy access to local policies are now widely recognized as crucial to the successful implementation of policies. This CD-ROM, when installed on the hospital network, allows easy access to policies, which are presented in generic form and can be easily updated/amended by the local infection control doctor. It also provides a learning module to educate hospital staff in infection control procedures. The information is attractively presented and is easy to navigate, allowing swift access to the most up-to-date information on infections and policies. Every doctor and nurse in the hospital has access to a computer, making this the most effective way of providing such crucial information.

Additional features of the program include staff and patient information sheets which can be edited as necessary and printed out for display or handing to patients and relatives; a pop-up glossary for a definition of hot words; a screen with handwash simulation, demonstrating the six steps full-text search across all modules; simple navigation around and between modules online instruction as to how to edit the software; and, a file indicating the number of times the program has been accessed. Two of the top issues for medicine highlighted by Calman in 1997 were antibiotic resistance and information technology - this product combines both issues.