Tracking and trending communicable diseases/infections and antibiotic use can seem very overwhelming when you do not understand why it is important to look at this data. Line listings and facility maps can appear to be “busy work” or a “waste of time”. But when you understand why these are important, you will embrace them as proactive and sometimes reactive tools to improve policies, procedures, and current practices within the facility. Resulting in improved outcomes for your residents.

Nurse Learner Outcome: 

Learner Objectives: 

1. Differentiate the difference between a HAI, CAI and suspected infections
2. Diagram infections on facility map to identify possible trends
3. Detect trends of communicable diseases/infections and potential overuse of antibiotics by analyzing month end data