GermWatcher has been developed to assist the Infection Control Departments of Barnes and Jewish Hospitals (teaching hospitals affiliated with the university) with their infection control activities. These activities include surveillance of microbiology cultures data.

Hospital-acquired (nosocomial) infections represent a significant cause of prolonged inpatient days and additional hospital charges. The medical expert system GermWatcher applies the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance (NNIS) culture-based criteria for detecting nosocomial infections. GermWatcher has been deployed at Barnes Hospital, a large tertiary-care teaching hospital, since February 1993. It was later deployed at neighboring Jewish Hospital in July 1995. Microbiology culture data from the hospital’s laboratory system are monitored by GermWatcher. Using a rulebase consisting of a combination of the NNIS criteria and local hospital infection control policy, GermWatcher scans the culture data, identifying which cultures represent nosocomial infections. These infections are then reported to the CDC.

GermWatcher is a hospital-based system.

Michael Kahn kahn@osler.wustl.edu or Sherry Steib sherry@osler.wustl.edu .

Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Medical Informatics, 660 South Euclid Campus Box, 8005 St. Louis, Missouri, 63110 USA, Phone: (314) 454-8651.