Patients today are between a rock and a hard place because when they get sick a hospital may be the last place they want to go. Hospital Acquired Infections, also known as Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are the 4th leading cause of patient deaths, killing 270 people per day in the USA. Recently the Federal Government and Payers are implementing incentives and penalties on hospitals that are not doing all they can to reduce HAIs.
HAIs are defined as infections not present and without evidence of incubation at the time of admission to a health care setting. Within hours after admission, a patient’s flora begins to acquire characteristics of the surrounding bacterial pool. Most infections that become clinically evident after 48 hours of hospitalization are considered hospital-acquired. Infections that occur after the patient is discharged from the hospital can be considered healthcare-associated if the organisms were acquired during the hospital stay. There have been several cases of patients going into the hospital for minor surgeries and coming out in coffins, yet limited media coverage has been devoted to this area of concern.
Healthcare-associated infections can be localized or systemic, can involve any system of the body, be associated with medical devices or blood product transfusions. Three major sites of healthcare-associated infections are bloodstream infection, pneumonia, and urinary tract infection. HAIs result in excess length of stay, mortality and healthcare costs. In 2002, an estimated 1.7 million healthcare-associated infections occurred in the United States, resulting in 99,000 deaths. In March 2009, the CDC released a report estimating overall annual direct medical costs of healthcare-associated infections that ranged from $28-45 billion.
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