Glossary

Area	Definition
ACHS	Australian Council for HealthCare Standards.

aggregate data	Data in the VICNISS Coordinating Centre’s database that are forwarded from hospitals.

ASA score	American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) score. This index is designed to pre-operatively assess the overall physical status of the patient. The score ranges from 1 for a healthy patient to 5 for a patient who is not expected to survive 24 hours post surgery (table 1).

bloodstream infection (BSI)	Presence of live pathogens in the blood, causing an infection. See also pathogen.

case	A patient identified as having an infection.

CDC	Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (United States).

central line	A catheter (tube) that is passed through a vein to end up in the thoracic (chest) portion of the vena cava (the large vein returning blood to the heart) or in the right atrium of the heart. A central venous line is also called a central venous catheter. Sometimes, the ‘venous’ is omitted and it is called a central line or central catheter.

central line associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI)	A bloodstream infection thought to have been caused by the presence of a central line.

cholecystectomy	A surgical procedure to remove the gallbladder. This procedure can be performed through keyhole surgery. See laparoscopy.

coronary artery bypass graft surgery	A surgical procedure that creates new pathways around blocked or narrowed arteries to allow blood to reach the heart muscle again.

device days	The number of days for which an intravenous catheter or ventilator has been present in a patient.

epidemiology	The study of populations to determine the frequency and distribution of disease and measure risks.

extrinsic risk	A risk that is not inherent in the patient. Some forms of treatment are considered extrinsic risk factors, such as the use of invasive devices (such as catheters) or surgical procedures.

hospital-acquired infection or nosocomial infection	Any infection that occurs during or after hospitalisation that was not present or incubating at the time of the patient’s admission.

infection	Invasion by and multiplication of pathogenic microorganisms in a bodily part or tissue, which may produce tissue injury and progress to disease.

intensive care unit (ICU)	A hospital unit that usually treats very sick patients. Patients in intensive care units are at a higher risk of developing infections because they are sicker than other patients.

intravascular device	The device used to administer a solution into a vein, such as the familiar IV drip.

intravascular device related	The device used to administer a solution into a vein, such as the familiar IV drip.

laparoscopy	Type of surgery in which a small incision (cut) is made in the abdominal wall through which an instrument (a laparoscope) is placed to permit structures within the abdomen and pelvis to be seen. A diversity of tubes can be pushed through the same incision in the skin. Probes or other instruments can thus be introduced through the same opening. In this way, a number of surgical procedures can be performed without the need for a large surgical incision. Often called keyhole surgery, the risk of infection in surgical procedures using a laparoscope is much less than for operations where a large incision is performed.

NNIS	National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance. The NNIS System at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, Georgia) has served as an aggregating institution for US hospitals for over 30 years.

nosocomial	The term 'nosocomial' comes from two Greek words: 'nosus' meaning 'disease' + 'komeion' meaning 'to take care of.' Hence, 'nosocomial' should apply to any disease contracted by a patient while under medical care. However, 'nosocomial' has been whittled down over the years and now just refers to hospitals -- it is now synonymous with hospital-acquired.

pathogen	An agent of disease—that is, a disease producer. The term pathogen is used most commonly to refer to infectious organisms. These include microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses and fungi.

pneumonia	Inflammation of one or both lungs. Pneumonia is frequently but not always due to infection. The infection may be bacterial, viral, fungal or parasitic.

point prevalence	The number of events or persons with a given disease or other attribute during a specified point in time.

prevalence	The number of events (for example, instances of a given disease or other condition) in a given population at a designated time.

procedure specific	Related to a specific procedure. Procedure-specific infection rates for total hip replacements, for example, are only those infection rates that relate to total hip replacements.

prospective surveillance	Monitoring patients for infection whilst they are still in hospital. This surveillance can also include post discharge surveillance, whereby patients are monitored for a set period once they leave hospital. See also retrospective surveillance.

rate	A measure of the frequency of occurrence of an event phenomenon.

retrospective surveillance	Using chart review after the patient has been discharged from hospital as the sole means of identifying infections.

risk adjustment	A standardised method used to ensure intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors for a hospital acquired infection are considered in the calculation of hospital acquired infection rates.

risk index	A means of stratifying patients according to their risk of infection. This then allows appropriate comparison of infection rates. See also risk adjustment.

standardisation	A set of techniques used to remove, as far as possible, the effects of differences in age or other confounding variables when comparing two or more populations.

surgical site infection (SSI)	An infection at the site of an operation (usually an incision) that is caused by the operation.

surveillance	The ongoing systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of health data.

targeted surveillance	Surveillance for infection in a specific area (for example, an intensive care unit) or for a specific procedure (for example, total hip replacement). Targeted surveillance for areas of concern is more efficient than doing surveillance across a whole hospital for all infections.

total hip replacement	Surgery in which the diseased ball and socket of the hip joint are completely removed and replaced with an artificial joint.

total knee replacement	A surgical procedure in which damaged parts of the knee joint are replaced with an artificial joint.

transmission of infection	Any mechanism by which an infection is spread.

trend	The general direction in which something tends to move. Surveillance involves observing the trend of infection rates to help identify any increases.

validation	A program series of checks and challenges, repeated periodically to establish the soundness and accuracy of the data.

ventilator	A machine that mechanically assists patients to breathe (sometimes referred to as artificial respiration).

ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP)	Pneumonia that is has been caused by the presence of the ventilator.

VICNISS Advisory Committee	A committee that provides stakeholder advice to the VICNISS Coordinating Centre on the implementation, development and deliverables of the VICNISS program

VICNISS Coordinating Centre	A centre that collects and analyses data from individual hospitals and reports to participants and the Department of Human Services on aggregate, risk adjusted, procedure-specific infection rates.

VICNISS Technical Advisory Group	A group that provides the VICNISS Advisory Committee with recommendations about specific surveillance issues.

VICNISS User Groups	User groups that provide a forum for program participants to support and/or liaise with the VICNISS Coordinating Centre and other participantsUser groups that provide a forum for program participants to support and/or liaise with the VICNISS Coordinating Centre and other participants.