We trust hospitals to help make us well. What we don’t expect is to
get sick in a hospital. But every year about 648,000 hospital patients
develop infections during their stay and about 75,000 die. Some of the
most threatening infections are caused by C. diff and MRSA bacteria,
which can live on surfaces for days and pass from hand to hand. And MRSA
is
resistant
to some antibiotics. Consumer Reports found that while some hospitals
have been successful at cutting their infection rates, many have not.
Consumer Reports analyzed hospital-acquired infection data for
thousands of hospitals across the U.S., and rated hospitals on how well
they prevented MRSA and C. diff infections, and the
results are sobering.
Only 6 percent received top scores for preventing both infections,
with some well-known hospitals having low ratings, including the
Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, and Mount
Sinai Hospital in New York City. To prevent those infections, hospitals
and hospital staff must pay close attention to cleanliness.
Also essential is to avoid the overuse and misuse of antibiotics,
which can wipe out patients’ good bacteria and let bad bacteria like C.
diff run wild.
Most infections are preventable, and if hospitals were committed to
deploying evidence-based practices that reduce infections, tens of
thousands of lives could be saved each year. Some hospitals are able to
keep their infection rates low. The best prevent infections by
designating special staff to oversee the use of antibiotics and by
following clear protocols on cleanliness.
Read more at:
http://www.winknews.com/2015/07/29/hospital-safety-ratings/
