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TheraDoc Launched Complete, Real-Time Solution for Infection Control, Prevention and Management at SHEA '06

Posted on: Thursday, 23 March 2006, 06:00 CST

Responding to input from infection control practitioners (ICPs) at the front line of care, TheraDoc(R), Inc. (www.theradoc.com) has upgraded its Infection Control Assistant(TM) (ICA). After using ICA version 3.2 since February, Rhode Island Hospital clinicians report that it significantly improves workflow efficiencies as well as enhances surveillance, documentation and reporting capabilities. TheraDoc's complete solution for ICPs, epidemiologists and anti-microbial stewardship teams enables them to transform the quality and safety of patient care -- in real-time, through enhanced clinical decision-making.

"We estimate that version 3.2 will reduce the amount of time our ICPs spend at their desks reviewing micro and other reports by as much as 30-50 percent, allowing them more time to interact with hospital staff providing education and participating in other needed interventions," stated Julie Jefferson, RN, MPH, CIC, director of epidemiology at Rhode Island Hospital.

TheraDoc launched ICA version 3.2 at the 16th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), March 18-21, in Chicago. Attendees were among the first to see how the software helps clinicians to promptly identify, clinically confirm and report healthcare-associated as well as hospital- and community-acquired infections to meet institutional, public and regulatory reporting requirements. Now, ICPs can execute infection control, prevention and management initiatives more efficiently while simultaneously measuring clinical and financial outcomes. With ICA 3.2, epidemiologists will have normalized data coded with standardized nomenclatures to better address the challenges of clinical care and research.

TheraDoc provides innovative, best-in-class solutions to premier hospitals across the country. The company is unique in its strict adherence to medical informatics standards, which enables connectivity and interoperability with any hospital's disparate health information systems.

ICA version 3.2 continues to utilize the company's exclusive inference engine, first released in 2000, for continuous real-time surveillance and identification of infections, regardless of their point of origin. The upgrade still features TheraDoc's sophisticated, institution-specific inferences that automatically screen possible infections based on first evidence of an infectious episode as well as filter suspected contaminants or colonizing organisms. It retains the original version's ability to facilitate rapid clinical confirmation of all possible infections identified by the software, including documentation of hospital-acquired pneumonia and surgical site infections.

Stan Pestotnik, TheraDoc president and co-founder, said, "Version 3.2 was specifically designed to support an ICP's daily workflow by providing clinical transparency; the software supports the decision-making process, but the clinician ultimately decides on the course of action." He further stated, "Infection control practitioners know how to do their jobs. Simply put, our software places mission-critical information and knowledge at their fingertips to enable informed, proactive decision-making -- in real-time."

The upgraded version features a powerful and flexible ICP Workbench, where clinical information about pre-screened potential infections is automatically compiled in a central location and placed within the daily workflow. This streamlined and intuitive feature allows clinicians to conduct all surveillance and documentation activities, including investigation of positive and negative microbiology results, notifiable diseases, and surgical procedures. Clinicians can easily evaluate and clinically confirm potential infections -- within one panel. With robust benchmarking, collating, sorting and displaying capabilities, ICA version 3.2 increases efficiency, partly by allowing supporting data to be linked, i.e. lab and radiology results.

Notes Steve Parenteau, MT (ASCP), MS, CIC, infection control practitioner at Rhode Island Hospital, "The workflow is integrated. With the consolidated workspace, the ICA Workbench provides everything I need in one location, allowing more efficient use of my time performing surveillance and documentation."

ICA version 3.2 also features enhanced new functionality that provides more freedom for users to generate microbiology and infection rate reports. The content and presentation allows users to easily tailor reports to meet institutional and public requirements. Internally, reports can be created for one or more units or the entire hospital and include infection rate trends with control limits as well as NNIS and NHSN benchmarking. Externally, the upgraded software also helps ICPs to easily identify and communicate infection-related issues to local health departments or other healthcare organizations. TheraDoc's ICA version 3.2 is designed for what ICPs do.

About TheraDoc, Inc.

TheraDoc is a medical informatics company specializing in therapeutic, real-time decision support that improves the quality, safety, and efficiency of patient care in large and small healthcare organizations. Integrated with disparate hospital information systems or electronic medical records, TheraDoc's technology helps clinicians manage multiple processes of care across multiple conditions and diseases. Founded in 1999, TheraDoc designs, develops, and supports a suite of clinical decision support technologies. TheraDoc's founders and core medical informatics team are internationally recognized for their pioneering work in medical expert systems. Their experience in clinical decision support design and development spans two decades. On the Net: TheraDoc site: www.theradoc.com.

Source: Business Wire

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