As part of the NOSO strategy, Swissnoso is currently developing a surveillance module for central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI), on behalf of the Federal Office of Public Health.

The pilot project provides fully automated monitoring of catheter-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI), which is being implemented in intensive care units of several Swiss hospitals.

This innovative project aims to extract data from the electronic patient record (such as the presence of a vascular catheter and microbiology results) and process it using a computer algorithm to classify episodes of bacteraemia. The algorithm classifies episodes according to whether they are associated with a vascular catheter. The algorithm was initially developed at Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), and the results were compared with manual monitoring over a period of 6 years (2016 to 2021). The results of the automated surveillance were comparable to those of the manual surveillance.

The data used for this surveillance is structured data that can be easily extracted from the electronic patient record to enable as many hospitals as possible to participate. Participating hospitals send anonymised data on a monthly or quarterly basis and receive a detailed report in return.

In the second phase, the system will be extended to acute care units and will include the surveillance of peripheral vascular catheters.

Find out more: the results of this pilot phase will be presented at the Swissnoso symposium on 23 May 2024.

Status January 2024