Healthcare-associated infections: getting the balance right in safety and quality v. public reporting
Brett G. Mitchell A B D , Anne Gardner B and Alistair McGregor CA School of Nursing, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 135, Hobart, TAS. 7001, Australia.
B School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, Australian Catholic University, PO BOX 256, Canberra, ACT, Australia. Email: anne.gardner@acu.edu.au
C Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Royal Hobart Hospital, Liverpool St, Hobart, TAS. 7001, Australia. Email: alistair.mcgregor@dhhs.tas.gov.au
D Corresponding author. Email: bgmitc001@myacu.edu.au
Australian Health Review 36(4) 365-366 https://doi.org/10.1071/AH11200
Submitted: 22 July 2012 Accepted: 30 August 2012 Published: 15 October 2012
Journal Compilation © AHHA 2012
Abstract
Healthcare settings are dangerous places. For those receiving care, the risk of unintended harm from healthcare failures continues to be significant. Given this, there is a need to monitor standards in healthcare, not only to identify potential issues, but also to plan and evaluate interventions aimed at improving healthcare standards. Public reporting of performance standards is one aspect to monitoring standards, but not the only one. Public reporting also brings with it challenges. This perspective explores the recent move to publicly report one healthcare-associated infection (HAI) on the MyHospitals website and comments on the broader issue of using existing HAI data for the purposes of public reporting.
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