A practical approach to designing and performing a focused study

Designing and performing focused studies is part of the regular work of infection surveillance, prevention, and control, and the methodology of a prevalence survey used in this practice forum will be familiar to many infection control professionals. A practical example of a focused study to evaluate cost savings from extending intravenous catheter site and administration set change frequency from 72 hours to 96 hours illustrates the steps required. Suggested references for additional information are included at the end of the article.