Healthcare experts today published a position paper that provides strategies that healthcare facilities can use to monitor trends in the occurrence of emerging drug-resistant pathogens and determine the impact of local intervention efforts. “Recommendations for Metrics for Multidrug-Resistant Organisms (MDROs) in Healthcare Settings: SHEA/HICPAC Position Paper,” published online on Sept. 23 in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, aims to help healthcare facilities standardize monitoring of these and other dangerous pathogens within their particular institutions so that infection prevention and control teams can quickly recognize new resistance profiles and protect vulnerable patient populations.
“Many of the top experts in government and in healthcare have come together to highlight the key ways to track and recognize drug-resistant infections,” said SHEA president and HICPAC chair Patrick J. Brennan, MD. “If implemented, these metrics will go a long way toward providing solid data for hospitals to measure success in preventing emergence and transmission of these organisms.”