Staff members from the New York State Department of Health audited data reported to NHSN by reviewing a random sample of 7,059 surgical charts from 176 New York hospitals. They found 7 percent of surgical site infections reported to NHSN did not meet the criteria for inclusion and were subsequently removed. In addition, nearly one-quarter of records showed missed surgical site infections that were not reported to NHSN. Reviewers found most errors in colon surgical site data. Subsequently, the New York State colon surgical site infection rate increased 7.5 percent.
The researchers concluded an audit of hospital records may change true healthcare-associated infection rates and provide a more accurate depiction of hospital performance in federal data.
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