Application of Electronic Medical Record (Infection Control Support) Systems for Efficient Blood Culture Rounds

Abstract

In the treatment of infectious disease, the rapid application of a medical policy is necessary to ensure the effectiveness of blood cultures on vital prognosis. Blood culture rounds are being administered by ICT members on the same day when blood cultures indicate the presence of MRSA or candida. For this reason, to enable blood culture rounds that most efficiently target the necessary points, ICT members create a checklist for blood cultures positive for MRSA and candida, sharing information and making the infection control support system reflect infection-related information, choices in antibacterial medications, etc. Further, by applying information technology to the gathering of basic patient information, such as antibacterial medication history and changes in lab results that took a large amount of time previous to the round, this information can be simply auto-summarized and improve efficiency. The MRSA bacteremia and candidemia checklists are made by pulling from those found in the Medication Guidelines for Combating MRSA and Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Deep Mycosis and entering them into the electronic medical records. Items regarding diagnosis/treatment, risk factors, etc. are entered in either a checklist or multiple-choice format. Aiming for efficiency in this way has resulted in rounds being conducted in less time and ICT members assembling in a timely manner. The change to the checklist format during rounds has enabled rounds to be conducted quickly and in full, and by displaying the results in the same format in electronic medical records, communication and information-sharing with the attending physician has been streamlined, enabling treatment to be administered earlier.