You would think that a stint in hospital to convalesce would have you leaving healthier than when you arrived, but there is a pervasive belief among both healthcare professionals and patients that hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are unavoidable. This troubling belief is well founded, as statistics show that acquiring a HAI during your hospital stay is quite likely. In 2004, it was shown that Pennsylvania's general acute care hospitals recorded close to 12,000 HAIs. The fallout from these infections led to 1,500 extra deaths, a further 205,000 hospital days, and almost 2 billion dollars in added hospital charges.
The epidemic has become so dire that medical officials recently gathered in Washington D.C. to launch a supplement in The American Journal of Medical Quality aimed at changing both the public's and health care worker's perceptions. As circular as it may sound, the supplement argues that prevailing negative perceptions of hospitals are affecting hospital processes and fueling the present epidemic.
David B. Nash, MD, editor of The American Journal of Medical Quality, says that incidents of HAIs will remain high while medical professionals continue to accept them as part of the job. "Despite all of our hard work, medical care can never be error free," says Nash, "What we must strive for is care that is harm-free."
Source: SAGE Publications
