Let Others Use Your Data!

Prof. Dr. Marc Bonten, COMBACTE’s Scientific Coordinator, posted a blog about a paper published in JAMA in 2014. Recently it was discovered that the paper appeared to contain an error. In his blog, Prof. Dr. Bonten explains why such a mistake has happened, and what the lessons learned are.

The objective of the study was “To compare the effects of SDD and SOD, applied as unit-wide interventions, on antibiotic resistance and patient outcome” according to the publication. 16 Intensive Care Units (ICUs) had been part of the study. As soon as she heard that her paper contained an error, lead author Evelien Oostdijk immediately proceeded to identify the problem. As it turns out, the problem stood the coding for the two interventions had been reversed at one of the 16 ICUs. Together with Marc Bonten, Evelien Oostdijk supervised the re-analysis of the study data, informing their colleagues and the journal in which the study outcomes were published right away, and requesting a retraction and replacement of the paper.

Read Marc Bonten’s reflection on the incident on the Reflections on Infection Prevention and Control¹ blog, and why he believes it important to “Always let others use your original data for new (or just the same) analyses”.

¹The Reflections on Infection Prevention and Control is a blog for academic and educational purposes. It features reflections on Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) based on clinical microbiology, epidemiology, or science & literature. The contributors, Jon Otter, Martin Kiernan, Andreas Voss, and Marc Bonten, are expressing their opinions on different matters concerning IPC.