Outbreaks of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) have hit hard this year in Ontario, BC and Quebec. C.difficile, MRSA (methicillin-resistant S. aureus) and other “superbugs” are challenging our healthcare institutions and the way we control the spread of disease within hospitals. Hospital-acquired infections are a growing fear in the public’s mind, litigation is on the rise, and millions are spent on new cleaning protocols alone.

But hospitals still lack the fundamental means to track the spread of these outbreaks within their walls. Hospitals aren’t able to isolate where contamination occurred and how it is spreading, and so time and resources are spent starting from scratch every time. To get ahead of infection spread, hospitals need the right information and the right tools to deal with the problem. Right now, they have neither — pushing them into costly heavy-handed approaches, ineffective at improving patient safety.

Infonaut Inc is partnering with the Sault Ste Marie Innovation Centre (SSMIC) to create a precision infectious disease risk-management tool, the Intelligent Infection Control application, which has recently secured the financial backing of the Ontario government.

David Orazietti, MPP for Sault Ste Marie, announced in October, 2008 that the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) is providing Infonaut and SSMIC with half the funding required to complete development on our hospital disease outbreak risk management application.

“We recognize the importance of supporting the development of this unique system that could help staff manage the spread of infectious diseases at SAH while creating a value-added product for use throughout the healthcare sector,” said David Orazietti.

“This system has the potential to enable up-to-the-minute information sharing so crucial in a hospital setting where staff need the most relevant information possible to make important medical decisions,” said Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle, chair of the NOHFC.

When complete, Infonaut’s Intelligent Infection Control tool will help hospitals track and contain outbreaks such as C.difficile before they can spread. The application dynamically updates the risk profiles of people, places, and things which affect C.difficile associated disease (CDAD) rates. Using Real Time Location System (RTLS) tag technology, hospitals can literally see who and what infected patients have interacted with, where they have been, and which equipment has been in close proximity to them – turned into actionable information.

Hospital GIS is capable of graphically depicting a history, showing where items have been and when, while an analytical extension can determine potential commonalities and high-risk contacts. The application applies GIS technology to determine the spatial relationships and contacts between risk-profiled people, places and things. The profiles are dynamically generated: as people and assets interact with each other, associated risk levels change to reflect new inputs.

“We are very excited to be working on this project with Infonaut Inc and the potential it brings to the healthcare industry,” said Infonaut partner Tom Vair, Executive Director, Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre. “This innovative health IT product will help health stakeholders control the spread of infectious diseases such as C.difficile. In the future, we hope that hospitals, long-term care facilities and other health facilities will be able to use this system to help manage and reduce the impact of future number of disease outbreaks.”

.An early prototype solution was applied at the Sault Area Hospital (SAH), a provincial leader on C.difficile management (with 0.21 cases per 1000 patient days – one of the lowest infection rates compared with hospitals of similar size). In January 2007, the SAH applied learnings from this project to the development of the Intelligent Infection Control solution, as part of their investigation into a C.difficile outbreak. They found it provided decision makers with a valuable graphical representation of movement within the hospital, and excellent potential applications towards improving patient safety.

“The Sault Area Hospital is pleased to collaborate on this innovative solution with the Innovation Centre and project partner Infonaut,” said Marc Bouchard, Chief Information and Privacy Officer, Sault Area Hospital. “The project will see the development of what should be an interesting tool that could assist our ongoing efforts in infection control and prevention. It is great to see this type of solution being developed right here in Sault Ste Marie.”

To learn more about this product, or if you’re interested in the Intelligent Infection Control solution for your organization, please contact Hugh Williams at [hwilliams@infonaut.ca].