Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 21, 2026

Development and Assessment of Intracellular Infection Models for Staphylococcus aureus
Published on: January 17, 2025
Development of quality indicators for the management of Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia
Jaap Ten Oever1, Joëll L Jansen2, Thomas W van der Vaart3
1Department of Internal Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Background:
Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) is a serious and often fatal infectious disease. The quality of management of SAB is modifiable and can thus affect the outcome. Quality indicators (QIs) can be used to measure the quality of care of the various aspects of SAB management in hospitals, enabling professionals to identify targets for improvement and stimulating them to take action.
Objectives:
To develop QIs for the management of hospitalized patients with SAB.
Methods:
A RAND-modified Delphi procedure was used to develop a set of QIs for the management of SAB in hospitalized patients. First, available QIs for the management of SAB were extracted from the literature published since 1 January 2000 (MEDLINE and Embase databases). Thereafter, an international multidisciplinary expert panel appraised these QIs during two questionnaire rounds with an intervening face-to-face meeting.
Results:
The literature search resulted in a list of 39 potential QIs. After appraisal by 30 medical specialists, 25 QIs describing recommended care at patient level were selected. These QIs defined appropriate follow-up blood cultures (n=2), echocardiography (n=6), source control (n=4), antibiotic therapy (n=7), antibiotic dose adjustment (n=2), intravenous-to-oral switch (n=2), infectious disease consultation (n=1) and medical discharge report (n=1).
Conclusions:
A set of 25 QIs for the management of SAB for hospitalized patients was developed by using a RAND-modified Delphi procedure among international experts. These QIs can measure the quality of various aspects of SAB management. This information can be fed back to the relevant stakeholders in order to identify improvement targets and optimize care.
Related Concept Videos
Indicators
Quality of Water
Quality Control
Quality control helps track data, visualize trends, and identify variations, making it easier to detect deviations that may affect the accuracy of an analysis. One way to do this is by generating a quality control chart, which...
Quality Assurance
Mechanical Ventilation I: Indication and Settings
Respiratory Assessment: Purpose and Indications
Objectives and Importance:
The primary goal of respiratory assessment is to evaluate patients at early risk of clinical deterioration. Since respiratory distress often precedes other signs of declining health, breathing patterns and sounds become a...

