In an effort to enhance quality patient care and safety, Adventist Health has instituted Quality Compass throughout its system. The infection surveillance and control software program—piloted at Sonora Regional Medical Center in October 2008—has been successfully implemented at almost all system hospitals. Adventist Medical Center will come on board in September following the implementation of PathNet.
Quality Compass is a Web-based technology platform sponsored by The Advisory Board. It facilitates the development of customized management and reporting tools using real-time pharmacy and lab data specific to positive cultures, antibiotic-organism mismatches, and appropriate antibiotic utilization. Personalized training for infection preventionists, as well as pharmacy and lab personnel, and ongoing support provided by dedicated advisors are additional benefits of collaboration with The Advisory Board. This training focuses on system navigation, report development and analysis, and the latest best practices related to infection prevention and control.
According to Marsha Barnden, MSN, RNC, director of Standards and Infection Control for Adventist Health, the software offers a host of benefits for system hospitals and patients alike. “The paramount advantage of the Quality Compass program is that it streamlines the day-to-day workflow for the infection preventionists. Once reports are created, they can be easily accessed and shared with infinite team members. Additionally, an alert function sends notification of patients with resistant organisms so that bed placement and isolation are appropriate and timely.”
Other Advisory Board support services include access to the Quality Compass Cohort of users and research professionals who are experts in the field of epidemiology. It is hoped that by fully utilizing the Quality Compass product, Adventist Health will reduce antibiotic spending, LOS due to infection, infection rates for resistant organisms and decreased time spent on reporting. These benefits will contribute greatly to overall organizational performance, thereby creating opportunities to enhance patient safety, improve outcomes and decrease costs.
