Jul 14 2005
A report by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council has revealed that more than 11,000 people contacted some form of infection in Pennsylvania hospitals last year, and nearly 1,800 died from them.
The rather shocking revelation is part of the first detailed examination of the problem of hospital-acquired infections, and although experts knew such infections were a problem they have never been able to precisely pinpoint them.
Beth McConnell, director of the Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group Education Fund, says that until now, they could only guess how many patients suffered from hospital acquired infections in Pennsylvania or any other state.
She says by spotlighting this serious patient safety issue, they hope it will lead to improved infection control practices in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
The report is the first one to be generated by a new state law which makes the collection of hospital-specific infection reports mandatory.
Generally, such infections arise from improper hygiene by health care workers such as a failure to wash hands properly or at all, a failure to use gloves, inadequate sanitizing of equipment and other such mistakes.
Virginia, Nebraska, Nevada, and New York have already legislated for the gathering of such data, while Florida, Illinois and Missouri have legislation in the pipeline.
According to the report, it is estimated that such infections cost an extra $2 billion and 205,000 extra days of hospitalization.
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