Repurposing Geographic Information Systems for Routine Hospital Infection Control

Area of Science:

• Hospital epidemiology
• Public health informatics
• Spatial analysis in healthcare

Background:

• Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are increasingly utilized in public health surveillance.
• Their application in hospital settings for infection control is emerging but not widespread.
• Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) remain a significant concern, necessitating innovative prevention strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the potential role of GIS in hospital infection control.
• To review current applications of GIS in hospital epidemiology.
• To identify challenges and opportunities for adapting GIS in hospitals for infection prevention.

Main Methods:

• A targeted literature review was conducted to identify current GIS use in hospitals.
• The Nonadoption, Abandonment, Scale-up, Spread, and Sustainability (NASSS) framework was used to analyze implementation complexity.
• Challenges and opportunities were extracted through author analysis.

Main Results:

• Key implementation challenges for Hospital GIS in infection prevention fall into technology, organization, and adaptation domains.
• A transdisciplinary approach is proposed as a strategy to overcome these challenges.
• The current use of GIS in hospitals for infection control is limited but shows potential.

Conclusions:

• GIS presents a valuable, underutilized tool for enhancing hospital infection prevention efforts.
• Further research, including prospective clinical trials, is needed to validate the effectiveness of Hospital GIS.
• Translating successful public health GIS methods to hospital epidemiology can significantly impact HAI reduction.