The PraediAlert Hemodialysis Monitoring Module: Essential Monitoring for Infection Preventionists
Infection Preventionists (IPs) face the critical challenge of preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in high-risk patient populations, such as those undergoing hemodialysis.
These patients are especially vulnerable to bloodstream and access site infections, which contribute significantly to morbidity and mortality. The PraediAlert Hemodialysis Monitoring Module is your new, streamlined tool, specifically designed to simplify the complex task of monitoring and surveillance for this vulnerable group.
This new module digitizes and organizes key surveillance functions, enabling IPs to effectively track, document, and identify potential hemodialysis-associated infections.
Key Capabilities of the Hemodialysis Module
The PraediAlert Hemodialysis Module is a powerful addition to your surveillance toolkit, helping you efficiently monitor patients and reduce infection risk:
- Centralized Patient Data: The module compiles a list of all patients who have had an outpatient dialysis visit during a designated month. This list can be filtered by month and other settings to focus your review.
- Effective Tracking and Surveillance: You can update the Status for each patient to track your progress as you complete the surveillance process.
- Designate & Report: Precisely designate a patient with a hemodialysis-associated infection using the detailed worksheet (for documenting specific criteria like LASI). All data automatically saves and is centralized for review in the IP Infection Designations system report.
Importance of Hemodialysis Surveillance
Effective surveillance is a cornerstone of preventing infections in the dialysis setting. A comprehensive study on dialysis facility characteristics and bloodstream infections (BSIs) highlighted that infection control auditing and monitoring of infection surveillance data are critical to reducing infection rates.
By digitizing and organizing your hemodialysis surveillance into one comprehensive platform, the PraediAlert Hemodialysis Module helps you:
- Ensure Compliance: The documentation worksheet helps ensure you consistently apply surveillance definitions, which is crucial for identifying genuine HAIs.
- Improve Data Quality: Centralizing documentation from dialysis rounds helps provide higher-quality, actionable data for infection prevention initiatives.
Save Time: Streamlining the process from identifying the patient list to documenting the designation frees up valuable IP time, allowing you to focus on intervention and education.
Getting Started with Hemodialysis Surveillance
The Hemodialysis Module is available now for most VA sites. Contact your IP Clinical SME for more information.