Individual chart review in patients' electronic medical records may serve as an accurate surveillance method for urinary catheter use, according to research published in the American Journal of Infection Control.
For the study, researchers compared two methods for collecting urinary catheter usage data over a six-month period at a VA hospital. The two methods were chart reviews from the EMR and standardized bedside reviews.
In total, the researchers gathered urinary catheter data on 621 cases. The presence or type of urinary catheter differed between chart and bedside review in only 10 cases (1.6 percent). Chart reviews from the EMR had a sensitivity of 100 percent a specificity of 97.7 percent. In addition, this method demonstrated a raw agreement of 98.4 to bedside reviews.
For the study, researchers compared two methods for collecting urinary catheter usage data over a six-month period at a VA hospital. The two methods were chart reviews from the EMR and standardized bedside reviews.
In total, the researchers gathered urinary catheter data on 621 cases. The presence or type of urinary catheter differed between chart and bedside review in only 10 cases (1.6 percent). Chart reviews from the EMR had a sensitivity of 100 percent a specificity of 97.7 percent. In addition, this method demonstrated a raw agreement of 98.4 to bedside reviews.
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