New Procedures in Hospitals Can Reduce MRSA Infections
Posted by
Jenny AlbanoJuly 27, 2007 1:16 PMNew procedures in hospitals could drastically reduce the number of infections patients receive during their stay at hospitals. Some hospitals have started having nurses swab the nasal passage of every incoming patient to test for drug-resistant bacteria. Those who are found positive are put in isolation rooms so other patients and medical personnel won't contract an infection.
Also, hospitals trying to reduce the number of infections in patients have put more emphasis on hygiene. All the rooms have hand sanitizer, and have separate stethoscopes and other devices to stop the spread of bacteria.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projected this year that one of every 22 patients would get an infection while hospitalized -- 1.7 million cases a year -- and that 99,000 would die, often from what began as a routine procedure. The cost of treating the infections amounts to tens of billions of dollars, experts say.
In the past two years, the hospitals that have enacted these new procedures have seen a declining number of dangerous infections in their facilities. At the Veterans Hospital in Pittsburgh, the number of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections have dropped from 60 cases before the program started to only 17 cases last year. MRSAs are resistant to a number of antibiotics and can cause infections of surgical sites, the urinary tract, and the bloodstream and the lungs, which may lead to extended hospital stays.
Three state legislatures this year have passed bills that require hospitals to routinely test high-risk patients for infections. But some experts think that these requirements may reduce the amount of care and attention isolated patients get.
The hospitals that have used the new guidelines say they spent an extra $500,000 for equipment and staff, but in the end they saved over $900,000 because they didn't have as many infected patients to treat.
Infection rates have become a growing problem in hospitals today. As of now, 18 states have to publish their infection rates because they have grown so high. Something needs to be done about the number of infections in hospitals that are killing thousands of patients a year. These new programs seem to be working in hospitals, even if critics believe that the guidelines will be too expensive or troublesome to enact.