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Have you ever been admitted to the hospital for surgery or illness? Have you ever caught an infection unrelated to your surgery or illness? If so, you have been the victim of a nosocomial infection also known as hospital-acquired infections.
C. difficile, MRSA (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus), are well known, but there are many others.
Do you know that you have more chances to die from a nosocomial infection than from a car accident?
Every year in Quebec, 90 000 people are afflicted by these infections and, of that number, 4000 die immediately.
A minimum of 50% of these infections could be avoided by better prevention and control measures such as strict hand hygiene.
Nosocomial infections are also very costly to the health system. On average they cost 180 millions dollars yearly.
By joining ADVIN you contribute to the promotion of safe care and quality hospitals.
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Written by Christine Besson
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Wednesday, 16 August 2006 |
 Changes in hospital care procedure getting positive results
Getting a hospital-acquired infection, or being given the wrong medication by staff that are overworked, or, worst of all, death, are patients’ nightmares.
But hospitals have made changes in the past few years to help decrease the infection rate and stop these mistakes, and one nationwide program has seen big results from small changes.
Mercy Medical Center Merced is one of more than 3,000 hospitals taking part in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's "100,000 Lives Campaign." – Dr Lynn Cooman, vice president of medical affairs for Mercy, said that the hospital participated in a program to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia that was very successful. They went from one to two cases a month to zero in the last 16 months!
"The average community hospital our size would have at least two cases a month." Said Dr Cooman.
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Written by Christine Besson
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Tuesday, 13 June 2006 |
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.jpg) Quebec Health Ministry, Phillippe Couillard unveiled a three-year plan to reduce the number of nosocomial infections in Quebec hospitals by 30%. Phillipe Couillard declared that in addition to saving lives, the effort will reduce the huge costs generated by these infections – estimated at 180 million per/year – It will also free an average of 300 hospital beds/year.
The Ministry added that C.difficile infection that severely hit Quebec between 2002 and 2003 – causing 1400 deaths – is down by 40%. But C. difficile is not the only nosocomial infection: MRSA (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus) is another threatening bacteria, and there are many others.
The plan insists on reinforced basic hand hygiene and a better use of antibiotics.
To conclude, Phillippe Couillard, a neurological surgeon himself, explained that the battle against infections in hospital will never end. “Bacteria are and will always be part of hospital life » |
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Written by Christine Besson
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Monday, 12 June 2006 |
 In its 2006 report, the Academy of Architecture for Health guidelines call for private rooms to be a minimum requirement in new hospitals.
Many recent studies have suggested that private rooms reduce the risk of spreading infections amongst patients. Private rooms also cut down on the number of medication and safety errors. David Allens, spokesman for the American Hospital Association, says that American hospital confronted to the high costs generated by hospital-acquired infections are beginning to regulate themselves. A trend of hospitals are moving towards private rooms.
Within South Texas Health System, 92% of rooms are private.
Excerpt from the guidelines 2006:
A major change in the document is the adoption of single-bed private rooms as a minimum standard for new hospital construction. To avoid confusion, the text on this subject from the new edition is printed in full below:
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Written by Christine Besson
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Tuesday, 02 May 2006 |
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 The insurance company Horizon Blue-Cross Shield of New Jersey has joined forces with the company MedMine developing a software program and tools permitting both an alert system and the monitoring of the rate of hospital-acquired infections.
This year, Horizon has assumed 95% of the cost of this software for the nine hospitals of its network.
Hospitals in the other states participating in such a program have succeeded in diminishing the rate of hospital-acquired infections to a minimum of 20% up to 80% thus reducing significantly the number of victims and the associated elevated costs.
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Written by Christine Besson
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Tuesday, 11 April 2006 |
 The Senate and House of Maryland passed unanimously a bill obliging hospitals to disclose their rate of patient infections.
Beginning July 1, the state’s 47 acute-care hospitals will have to report data on hospital-acquired infections. A system of reporting has been established since 2002 by the Maryland Health Care Commission.
Bacteria, carried on the skin or inside the nostrils, become potentially deadly when entering wounds, surgery incisions or needle penetrations. Many of these bacteria have become-antibiotic resistant which add to their danger. |
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