Evaluation of GeoHAI Implementation

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial analysis have become important tools in public health informatics but have rarely been applied to the hospital setting. In this study we apply these tools to address the challenge of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) by building, implementing, and evaluating a new computer application which incorporates mapping and geographic data to assist hospital epidemiologists in identifying HAI clusters and assessing transmission risk. We expect that incorporation of geographic information into the workflow of hospital epidemiologists will have a profound effect on our understanding of disease transmission and HAI risk factors in the hospital setting, radically altering the workflow and speed of response of infection preventionists and improving their ability to prevent HAIs.