At any given time, approximately 1 in 25 patients in the US has at least one infection acquired during their hospital stay, say the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who have released two new reports highlighting the need to improve patient safety by eliminating this threat to patients.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have updated their previous estimates of health care-associated infections (HAI) through the two reports, one of which is published in the New England Journal of Medicine, NEJM and details 2011 hospital infection estimates from a survey of hospitals in 10 states.
The other is a 2012 annual report on national and state-specific progress toward the HAI prevention goals of the US Health and Human Services.
Combined, the CDC say these reports show that, while some progress has been made, more work is needed to eliminate the threat of hospital infections for patients.
Speaking of this need, CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden says:
"Although there has been some progress, today and every day, more than 200 Americans with health care-associated infections will die during their hospital stay. The most advanced medical care won't work if clinicians don't prevent infections through basic things such as regular hand hygiene."
He adds that health care workers should follow standard infection control practices all the time to ensure patient safety.
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