Hospitals look to improve infection-prevention measures - Simple steps such as hand hygiene can greatly reduce the number of dangerous and costly infections in patients - Managed Healthcare Executive
Overall, hospitals involved in the PPC saw a 27% improvement in controlling blood sugar levels in surgical patients, strengthening
the ability of a patient's immune system to fight infections; a 21% improvement in the use of antibiotics before surgeries
to prevent infections; and a 9% improvement in adopting new safety measures to prevent bloodstream infections from intravenous
central lines.
Developing measures for fighting infections must involve the frontline clinicians who have the most contact with patients,
says Alexis Elward, MD, medical director of infection control for St. Louis Children's Hospital. One group at Children's Hospital—including
nurses, physicians, infection control practitioners, and physical and respiratory therapists—has worked to improve hand hygiene
by implementing CDC guidelines that recommend that hospital personnel wash their hands after each contact with a patient.
The result is that hand hygiene at Children's Hospital has improved from 60% in mid-2006 to the current level of 94%.
Another multi-disciplinary group, which includes personnel from pharmacy and anesthesia, as well as surgeons, has worked to
reduce the number of surgical site infections in cardiothoracic surgery patients.
"We know that getting antibiotics in patients within one hour before an incision is made, and using clippers instead of shaving
hair, can decrease the quantity of germs on the skin," Dr. Elward says. "A small group of people got together and created
a system where those things are done automatically."
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