- -08-20-08 Don't Let a Hospital Kill You (CNN News)
- "According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Josh is one of 99,000 people who die each year because of infections acquired in the hospital. As Betsy McCaughey, the former lieutenant governor of New York, put it, 'You don't often come across such a big problem that you can prevent.' " 08-08
- -Hospital-Acquired Infections - Legislation to Reveal Rates (Consumer's Union)
- "More Americans die each year from hospital-acquired infections than from auto accidents and homicides combined. Even though the problem is well-documented, the risks for getting hospital infections have steadily increased during recent decades."
"Post-operative sepsis, a serious hospital infection, adds more than ten extra days and an average of $57,000 to your hospital bill. On average most types of hospital-aquired infection add thousands to your hospital bill."
"A few states are now taking action against this deadly problem by giving consumers information about how well their local hospitals control infections. In most states, these infection rates are secret."
"With your help, we're hoping to change that. Send a message to your legislators to require hospitals to report their infection rates to the public. That way, you can choose the safest hospital, and hospitals have a strong incentive to improve." 3-05
- -Improving Hand Hygiene in Health Care (ABC News)
- "Researchers at the University of Florida have developed a system that could save thousands of lives every year just by insuring that health care workers pay more attention to washing their hands. The system will monitor every time every nurse or doctor or technician washes his or her hands." 09-10
- -State Legislation to Reveal Rates of Hospital-Acquired Infections (Consumer's Union)
- Provides information on state laws that require the state to study and then reveal the rates of hospital-acquired infections by hospital. This information will help patients to choose the safest hospitals and avoid the least safe. The information may also encourage hospitals to improve their infection prevention practices, such as policies on hand hygiene. 3-05
- Biohazard Medical Waste (BiomedicalWasteSolutions)
- "Biohazardous waste from health care facilities ranges from needles to dressings; regulated medical waste disposal companies handle the management. 06-14
- Emergency Room Waits Increase (MSNBC News)
- "The average time that hospital emergency rooms patients wait to see a doctor has grown from about 38 minutes to almost an hour over the past decade, according to new federal statistics released Wednesday."
"The increase is due to supply and demand, said Dr. Stephen Pitts, the lead author of the report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." 12-05
- Hospital Infections Fourth-Leading Cause of Death (ABC News)
- "It turns out hospital infections are the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States."
"Pennsylvania is one of only six states that has passed a law requiring the reporting of infections. Experts say public disclosure forces hospitals to reduce infection rates. Dr. Rick Shannon, chief of medicine at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, looked at the data on patients in the hospital's intensive care units. He was stunned."
" 'Fifty-one percent of everyone who got these infections died. Half the people who got one died,' he said. Dr. Shannon wasted no time. He gave an order to the ICU staff. Reduce hospital infections to zero — in just 90 days." 10-05
- Hospital-Acquired Bloodstream Infections (Centers for Disease Control)
- "Nosocomial bloodstream infections are a leading cause of death in the United States. If we assume a nosocomial infection rate of 5%, of which 10% are bloodstream infections, and an attributable mortality rate of 15%, bloodstream infections would represent the eighth leading cause of death in the United States. Because most risk factors for dying after bacteremia or fungemia may not be changeable, prevention efforts must focus on new infection-control technology and techniques." 3-05
- Hospital-Acquired Infections (Centers for Disease Control)
- "CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion manages the NNIS system and posts many of its publications on the Division’s website, including descriptions of participating hospitals and current trends in the types of adverse events that are monitored (see NNIS Reports at the NNIS home). A list of articles and chapters that contain information on NNIS methods and rationale for comparative rates is shown below." 3-05
- Hospital-Acquired Infections (Centers for Disease Control)
- "This guideline updates and replaces the previous edition of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “Guideline for Infection Control in Hospital Personnel,” published in 1983. The revised guideline, designed to provide methods for reducing the transmission of infections from patients to health care personnel and from personnel to patients, also provides an overview of the evidence for recommendations considered prudent by consensus of the Hospital Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee members." 3-05
- Hospital-Acquired Infections (eMedicine.com)
- "In the US: Nosocomial infections are estimated to occur in 5% of all acute care hospitalizations. The estimated incidence is more than 2 million cases per year, resulting in an added expenditure in excess of $2 billion. The National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) System of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention performed a survey from October 1986 to April 1998. They ranked hospital wards according to their association with central-line bloodstream infections. The highest rates of infection occurred in the burn ICU, neonatal ICU, and pediatric ICU." 3-05
- Hospital-Acquired Infections Prevention (Centers for Disease Control)
- "Part II (this report) contains recommendations for environmental infection control in health-care facilities, describing control measures for preventing infections associated with air, water, or other elements of the environment. These recommendations represent the views of different divisions within CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC), a 12-member group that advises CDC on concerns related to the surveillance, prevention, and control of health-care--associated infections, primarily in U.S. health-care facilities. In 1999, HICPAC's infection-control focus was expanded from acute-care hospitals to all venues where health care is provided (e.g., outpatient surgical centers, urgent care centers, clinics, outpatient dialysis centers, physicians' offices, and skilled nursing facilities). The topics addressed in this report are applicable to the majority of health-care facilities in the United States. This report is intended for use primarily by infection-control practitioners, epidemiologists, employee health and safety personnel, engineers, facility managers, information systems professionals, administrators, environmental service professionals, and architects. Key recommendations include"
* infection-control impact of ventilation system and water system performance
* establishment of a multidisciplinary team to conduct infection-control risk assessment
* use of dust-control procedures and barriers during construction, repair, renovation, or demolition
* environmental infection-control measures for special areas with patients at high risk
* use of airborne-particle sampling to monitor the effectiveness of air filtration and dust-control measures
* procedures to prevent airborne contamination in operating rooms when infectious tuberculosis (TB) patients require surgery
* guidance regarding appropriate indications for routine culturing of water as part of a comprehensive control program for legionellae
* guidance for recovering from water-system disruptions, water leaks, and natural disasters (e.g., flooding)
* infection-control concepts for equipment using water from main lines (e.g., water systems for hemodialysis, ice machines, hydrotherapy equipment, dental unit water lines, and automated endoscope reprocessors)
* environmental surface cleaning and disinfection strategies with respect to antibiotic-resistant microorganisms
* infection-control procedures for health-care laundry
* use of animals in health care for activities and therapy
* managing the presence of service animals in health-care facilities
* infection-control strategies for when animals receive treatment in human health-care facilities and
* a call to reinstate the practice of inactivating amplified cultures and stocks of microorganisms onsite during medical waste treatment." 3-05
- New Bacterium Threat in Hospitals (New York Times)
- "Clostridium difficile, a germ that causes deadly intestinal infections in hospital patients, has long been thought to be spread only by contact with contaminated surfaces. But a new study finds that it can also travel through the air." 05-10
- Prevention of Hospital-Acquired Infections (Centers for Disease Control)
- Information on prevention designed for physicians. 3-05
- Threat Level of "Superbugs" (CNN News)
- "For the first time, the CDC is categorizing drug-resistant superbugs by threat level. That's because, in their conservative estimates, more than 2 million people get antibiotic-resistant infections each year, and at least 23,000 die because current drugs no longer stop their infections."
"Antibiotics are designed to kill bacteria that cause infection. However, in the process they can also kill so-called good bacteria (the human body hosts about 100 trillion)."
- Why Aren't Hospitals Cleaner? (U.S. News)
- "Restaurants and cruise ships are inspected for cleanliness. Food processing plants are tested for bacterial content on cutting boards and equipment. But hospitals, even operating rooms, are exempt. The Joint Commission, which inspects and accredits U.S. hospitals, doesn't measure cleanliness. Neither do most state health departments, nor the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." 09-08