Using sensor networks to study the effect of peripatetic healthcare workers on the spread of hospital-associated infections.
J Infect Dis
; 206(10): 1549-57, 2012 Nov 15.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-23045621
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Super-spreading events, in which an individual with measurably high connectivity is responsible for infecting a large number of people, have been observed. Our goal is to determine the impact of hand hygiene noncompliance among peripatetic (eg, highly mobile or highly connected) healthcare workers compared with less-connected workers.METHODS:
We used a mote-based sensor network to record contacts among healthcare workers and patients in a 20-bed intensive care unit. The data collected from this network form the basis for an agent-based simulation to model the spread of nosocomial pathogens with various transmission probabilities. We identified the most- and least-connected healthcare workers. We then compared the effects of hand hygiene noncompliance as a function of connectedness.RESULTS:
The data confirm the presence of peripatetic healthcare workers. Also, agent-based simulations using our real contact network data confirm that the average number of infected patients was significantly higher when the most connected healthcare worker did not practice hand hygiene and significantly lower when the least connected healthcare workers were noncompliant.CONCLUSIONS:
Heterogeneity in healthcare worker contact patterns dramatically affects disease diffusion. Our findings should inform future infection control interventions and encourage the application of social network analysis to study disease transmission in healthcare settings.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Desinfecção das Mãos
/
Infecção Hospitalar
/
Busca de Comunicante
/
Pessoal de Saúde
/
Transmissão de Doença Infecciosa do Profissional para o Paciente
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2012
Tipo de documento:
Article