Some 2 million patients get a hospital-acquired infection (it’s called a nosocomial infection) every year and 90,000 of those patients die. In Pennsylvania alone, more than 19,000 infection cases occurred in 2005 (up from 11,600 in 2004) out of 1.6 million admissions to 168 hospitals, according to a report issued in November by the state’s Health Care Cost Containment Council. Pennsylvania, the first state to provide infection data collected directly from its hospitals, reported that nearly 13 percent of patients who got infections died. Read the full story in the AARP Bulletin.
Does your hospital follow strict guidelines to reduce the risk of infection for its patients?
Does your hospital require the use of gloves and other protective equipment for its doctors and nurses?
Better find out!