Hospital Patients Dying From Preventable Infections

Simple procedures can reduce deaths, says CDC
Hosp. Patients Dying from Preventable Infections
Steven Kurtz poses with a bacteria culture at his art exhibition in Buffalo, N.Y., Tuesday, June 17, 2008.   (AP)

Wash your hands, doc! The CDC estimates that 80,000 people annually develop bloodstream infections from improper procedure while inserting catheters and IVs, with 30,000 of those patients dying. According to a survey of medical professionals, these deaths occur because hospital administrators fail to pay attention to these easily preventable illnesses, and allow their hospitals to operate with a culture that is lax in attention to sterilization details, reports the Washington Post.

The recommended fix is simple. Ensure that hospital docs, nurses, and lab techs: wash their hands; put on a sterile hat, mask, and gloves; clean the patient's skin, have the patient wear a sterile gown; and put a sterile dressing over the catheter site. A program paid for by the federal government reduced these infections by two-thirds.
(More hospitals stories.)

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