Health care-associated infection reporting: The need for ongoing reliability and validity assessment

Government-mandated reporting of health care-associated infections (HAIs) and new reimbursement regulations place a premium on accurate and reliable detection of HAIs. This commentary addresses the challenges and opportunities of having consistent, well-defined, and continuous methods in place to ensure the reliability and validity of HAI detection and reporting. In addition, such procedures could support the development and expertise of infection preventionists. A Web-based clinical vignette model is suggested for improving HAI reporting for hospitals participating in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network. Copyright (C) 2009 by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (Am J Infect Control 2009:37:615-8.)