The use of personal computers in hospital infection control.

The storage, retrieval and analysis of hospital infection data is best performed by using computers. Many laboratory mainframe systems have infection control modules and there are some commercial programs for personal computers (PCs). An alternative is to use business and statistical PC software. Because of their large customer base these programs are reliable and easy to use yet extremely sophisticated and flexible, and they can be easily customized for use in infection control. Many combinations of software and hardware are available but the ones described here have been used successfully for several years at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong.