Why is risk adjustment used when measuring infection prevention outcomes?

• A. To improve comparability across units
• B. To hide true performance
• C. It is unnecessary
• D. To increase effort required

Answer: (A)

Risk adjustment is used to enable fair comparisons of infection prevention outcomes across units with different patient populations. Different units may care for patients with varying baseline risks for infection—things like age, underlying illnesses, level of illness severity, use of invasive devices, and recent procedures can all influence infection likelihood. By adjusting outcomes for these risk factors, observed infection rates are interpreted against what would be expected given the patient mix. This helps identify true performance: a unit isn’t unfairly labeled as poor or excellent just because it encounters sicker patients or healthier ones. Without adjustment, raw rates can mislead, since higher or lower numbers may reflect patient mix rather than the effectiveness of infection prevention practices. So the main goal is to improve comparability and fidelity of performance interpretation, supporting more accurate benchmarking and improvement efforts.