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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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Florida Hospitals on the Web |
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Written by Christine Besson
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Sunday, 13 November 2005 |
 By simply clicking their mouses, Floridians can now access hospital statistics which will inform them of a given institution's rate of infection.
Patients might now decide to avoid certain hospitals where there is a higher risk of getting sicker. The stigma of being blacklisted might push certain hospitals to take the necessary measures to deal with hospital acquired infections.
Florida state enacted a law in July 2004, which allowed publication of these statistics on the internet as early as 2005.
The same law was passed in New York state, but New Yorkers will have to be patient (or avoid being patients) since on-line statistics will not be available until 2008.
The New York Daily, in its November 10th editorial, denounces the lack of efficiency of the New York Health Department in implementing a computerized system to collect infection datas.
It also reminds its readers that many of these infections are preventable with simple basic hygiene measures as indicated in a recent pilot study by the Greater New York Hospital Association.
Hospital acquired infections kill an average of 6000 patients per year.
The editorial further reports on the efforts of a group of 38 hospitals that were able to considerably reduce their infection rates by targeting central line-associated bloodstream infections in intensive care units. Simple hygiene measures were reinforced and strictly applied.
The editorial concludes that "Publishing infection rates will of course embarrass some hospitals, but that's far better than killing patients"
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