Hospira, the world's leading provider of injectable drugs and infusion technologies, has introduced an enhancement to its TheraDoc clinical surveillance system designed to support hospital antimicrobial stewardship efforts, with the goal of helping to improve patient outcomes, reduce antimicrobial resistant infections and reduce costs.

The new TheraDoc system version 4.5, which further automates the monitoring and reporting of infections and antibiotic use, includes powerful features that can assist pharmacists and infection preventionists in maximizing the benefits of clinical surveillance throughout their organizations.

Improving antibiotic use is a key priority for hospitals nationwide, and antimicrobial stewardship plays a critical role in fighting antimicrobial resistance by ensuring appropriate drug selection, dosing and duration. According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), studies indicate that nearly 50 per cent of antimicrobial use in hospitals is unnecessary or inappropriate, and that the overuse of antibiotics is contributing to the growing challenges posed by Clostridium difficile and other antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

“The upgraded TheraDoc system helps hospitals leverage patient data to improve antibiotic use, combat antimicrobial resistance, and ultimately save lives,” said France Pitera, vice president, Clinical Information Technology, Hospira. “The software upgrade also helps hospitals improve antimicrobial utilization reporting -- a result of TheraDoc's early work with the CDC on its Antimicrobial Usage Reporting project. We are committed to being at the forefront of clinical surveillance and reporting, as integrating and exchanging relevant patient information supports efforts to protect patients and improve healthcare quality.”

The TheraDoc system version 4.5 features a new electronic medication administration record (eMAR) interface that integrates medical administration records into the TheraDoc system, allowing hospitals to monitor antimicrobial utilization using days of therapy or defined daily dose and export this data to the NHSN. The eMAR interface also helps infection preventionists improve patient care by simplifying the process of isolation management.

Other upgrades include an antimicrobial usage dashboard that displays medication administration data, and antimicrobial alerts that help clinicians monitor duration of therapy, identify de-escalation opportunities, and recognize redundant or duplicate therapies, potentially saving money on antimicrobial drugs. Upgraded NHSN definitions are designed to increase the efficiency and accuracy of NHSN reporting.

This upgrade helps hospitals expand their use of TheraDoc technology, which has shown many benefits for hospitals over more than 10 years. Lori McSorley, an infection preventionist at St. Luke's Hospital, Warren Campus, in New Jersey, said using the TheraDoc system helps significantly reduce the time it takes for NHSN data collection and reporting.

“Before TheraDoc, it would take 10-15 minutes per patient to collect and review surgical site infection data before in putting it into the NHSN system,” she said. “Now, information on all of our surgeries, including the start and stop time, class of surgery, and patient ASA [physical status] score, can be obtained automatically through the TheraDoc system. I just click on a surgery, and the data are immediately available for review and exporting to NHSN. I can report information on 10 patients in the time it took me to report one using manual methods.”

Hospira's TheraDoc clinical surveillance system has been chosen by more than 440 US hospitals and healthcare facilities, making critical patient information and medical knowledge readily available to help clinicians intervene quickly, prescribe appropriately, and improve the quality of patient care. The TheraDoc Clinical Intelligence Platform is the engine that powers several knowledge modules, including the Infection Control Assistant, Antibiotic Assistant, ADE Assistant, Clinical Alerts Assistant and Anticoagulation Assistant.