Device Utilization Ratios in Infection Prevention: Process or Outcome Measure?

Purpose of Review: The purpose of this review is to describe the role of device utilization as a component of surveillance for healthcare-associated infections and describe its potential role as a measurement of healthcare quality. Recent Findings: Device utilization, while primarily a process-based measure in the prevention of device-associated infections can also serve as an important outcome in the evaluation of an infection prevention program. Summary: Device utilization can be an important and resource-efficient measurement when coupled with measurements of risk-adjusted infection rates. The measurement of the device utilization ratio can provide insight into the risk of device-associated harms, including non-infectious harms, which would not be captured with currently used infection-based surveillance metrics. Further study and validation of standardized, risk-adjusted device utilization measurements is an important area for future exploration.