THE EFFECT OF SURVEILLANCE DEFINITIONS ON NOSOCOMIAL URINARY-TRACT INFECTION-RATES IN A REHABILITATION HOSPITAL

This article presents original research findings to illustrate the inf luence of surveillance definitions on infection rate. Several definiti ons for urinary tract infection were applied to clinical and laborator y data from rehabilitation hospital patients, and the effect on sensit ivity and specificity examined. We demonstrate that it is essential to take into account the influence of the surveillance definition when i nterpreting surveillance data, and the importance of ensuring that the surveillance definition is compatible with the surveillance objective s when selecting a definition. Surveillance definitions that serve wel l in one surveillance program may not serve well in another