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Hospitals must publicly report infection rates, experts say

Should hospitals publish their infection rates? Industry Experts and Patient Advocates argue yes. In order to truly see a change in MRSA infections (and other infections for that matter), transparency regarding infection rates is key.
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Hospitals overlook infection guidelines

Richard James, Professor of Microbiology at Nottingham University makes one of the most valid points when it comes to infections and infection control...that ultimately Infection Control is about behavior. Not just behavior of Doctors, Nurses or other Front Line Staff (which is the most common group held responsible for problems in infection control), but of hospital administration, politicians, and policymakers.

This article quotes an outbreak of Clostridium Difficile at the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. This infection was spread to at least 1,100 patients...approximately 90 died. What happened? There were a variety of causes. Handwashing, infection surveillance, isolation procedures and other infection controls were not followed, but those factors weren't the only causes of the outbreak. This article looks beyond that to the root causes, something that is rarely done.

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North Shore to put hospital infection rates online

In New York, the public disclosure of mortality rates has had a substantial impact on the number of deaths for those patients with heart troubles. North Shore - Long Island Jewish Health System, in an effort to replicate this success, is disclosing the infection rates for 10 of its 15 facilities. This is in advance of the State Wide reporting requirements coming into effect in 2009.

It has been shown that when hospitals are more accountable, they rise to the occasion to minimize the adverse events and that is what North Shore - LIJ is trying to do.

Nineteen states already have mandated reporting of Hospital Acquired infections.

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Consumers Union Urges Hospitals to Disclose Hand-washing Compliance Rates

In light of Infection Prevention Week, the Consumers Union (nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports) is calling on all hospitals to start disclosing their handwashing complance rates. Statistics show that hand hygiene compliance, on average, is less than 50%. This means that doctors, nurses and other health care worksers are not Cleaning their hands properly with over half of their patients! Further to that, only 35.6% of all hospitals in the United States have implemented proper handwashing initiatives as recommended by the CDC.

What area of the hospital with the worst handwashing rates? Studies have shown that the Intensive care units have the most shocking rates.

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Importance of Clean Air in Hospitals Stimulates Advances in Air Purification Technologies

Advances in Air Purification Technologies for Healthcare Industry, finds that increasing air pollution, combined with the rising number of patients with immune system deficiencies, has become a serious healthcare threat. Even with such a serious threat, Air Purification technologies tend to be overlooked as part of an Infection Control initiative.

Recently environmental agencies such as the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) have set guidelines that dictate the implementation of these life-saving technologies within hospitals and other healthcare facilities.