Automating infection surveillance efforts. Accurate outbreak data can cut costs, antibiotics use.

A recent survey of 150 infection control specialists concluded that automated surveillance systems (computer or Web-based programs that track patient infections) can protect patients from hospital-acquired diseases. However, the same survey also found that only about 13 percent of the respondents use the technology, according to Premier, the GPO that sponsored the survey. Dan Peterson, M.D., Premier's vice president and medical director, discusses this apparent contradiction and offers advice on how infection control departments can justify the hundreds of thousands of dollars required for an automated surveillance system.