Implementation of a microbiological monitoring program in a medical information system of a healthcare organization as part of ensuring the quality and safety of medical care

Background . The implementation of information systems in healthcare is an urgent task for every medical organization. Par-ticular attention should be paid to microbiological monitoring, which requires analysis of a large pool of data, prompt generation of analytical reports, and managerial decisions affecting the quality and safety of medical care. Objective . To evaluate the impact of integrating the WHONET software into a medical information system on the time it takes for clinical departments to receive the results of microbiological tests. Methods . A single-center before–after comparative study was conducted at the Vitasoft Clinic medical information system of the North-Western State Medical University named after I.I. Mechnikov. WHONET was integrated into the microbiological testing module: MIS and WHONET reference lists were mapped, WHONET fields, alert rules, and information messages for clinicians were configured. The mean time to receipt of microbiological results by clinical departments was assessed before and after implementation. Statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism 5.0; data are presented as mean±SD; differences were considered significant at p<0.05. Results . The mean time to receipt of microbiological results by clinical departments decreased from 5.25±0.55 days to 3.3±0.47 days (p<0.0001), i.e., by 37.1%. The implementation of WHONET made it possible to create referrals and reports for microbiological tests in compliance with regulatory requirements, to introduce a system of information messages for clinicians, including alerts on detected resistance mechanisms, and to ensure direct maintenance of microbiological databases and analysis of antimicrobial resistance data. Conclusion . Integration of WHONET into the medical information system reduces the time to receipt of microbiological results by clinical departments, improves the efficiency of microbiological monitoring, and supports decision-making on antimicrobial therapy and resistance management. For healthcare organizations without a laboratory information system, WHONET can serve as a laboratory information system and a database for microbiological monitoring; the limitations of integration are its duration and cost.