Benefits

• Significant time savings on data entry, since the patient's demographic details as well as alert organisms are downloaded via electronic interface.
• The infection control team specifies the risk factors and associated features to be collected for action and reporting.
• Early warning alerts of specific admissions or clusters of results prompting action, eg. screening or isolation.
• Accurate and quick outbreak reporting.
• Significant time savings on report creation, since ICNet supports on-demand, customizable data and graphical reporting.
• Pocket PDA option available.

The database is patient-centered. Each patient can have a number of infection control cases (episodes) during their lifetime, and each case may involve a number of alert organisms and alert conditions. A case is a period of infection control interest in a patient. If a patient has an open case, new results are added to this case, otherwise a new case is created. The case is closed when an infection control practitioner decides that the period of infection control interest has ended.