whonet5.4updatenotes,june2006.docVIP

WHONET 5.4 Update notes, June 2006 General Microbiology expert system: WHONET now has an expert system with new features in data entry, data analysis, and laboratory configuration. The three components of the expert system are: 1. microbiological isolate alerts of unusual or important findings; 2. expert interpretation rules (for MRSA, ESBL-producers, etc.); and 3. selective antibiotic reporting in clinical reports. These features are described at greater length below. New codes: Several new organisms, antibiotics, and specimen types have been added. Previously, the serotypes file included serotypes for Salmonella and S. pneumoniae. Serotypes for E. coli and Shigella have just been added. Multi-user WHONET: In earlier versions of WHONET, only one instance of WHONET could be run at a time. If users tried to start WHONET a second time, they would receive the message “WHONET is already running”. To avoid conflicts between users, it was generally recommended to install the WHONET program and configuration files separately onto the c: drive of each computer. A problem with this approach was the need for separate maintenance of the software and laboratory configuration files for each computer where WHONET was installed. In WHONET 5.4, this limitation has been removed, and should be particularly useful for institutions with a laboratory computer network. It is now possible to keep the WHONET program and configuration files on a common network drive without conflict between users. Advantages of this modification include: 1. For most software updates, it will only be necessary to update the central computer, not each computer separately; 2. All users will be sharing a set of laboratory configuration files, so updates to antibiotic lists, breakpoints, and other laboratory information will be automatically available for all software users. Note: It is still necessary to run the initial WHONET installation program separately for each computer becaus