Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) is an increasing problem. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) estimates that every year 4.1 million patients, equivalent to one in twenty hospitalised patients acquires infections. They EU Commission also estimates that every year 37,000 patients dies directly because of by hospital acquired infections and as that isn’t enough; an additional 110,000 deaths yearly is thought to be due to contributions to such infections.
So its not strange at all that the EU Commission and ECDC works quite intense with the subject and have both released a Communication as well as a proposal for a Council Recommendation on patient safety that deals with HAIs as well as other topics. Same goes for their Patient Safety & Quality Care Working Group with members from NGOs, Member States and the Institutions. More information about their work can be found here. One find if clicking on the meetings some quite interesting presentations.
Now that’s high level for those on the field a good overview of links to various tools, from guidelines by the Royal College of Nursing in the UK for the professionals to patient adapted versions that all can help preventing HAI´s can be found here.
And worth highlighting is this piece that I picked up from an earlier comment on a similar subject made by Andrew Preston from Harm Reduction Works.
Posts
since when is it HAI and not MRSA? :)
ReplyDeleteHAI does include MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus where the bacteria cannot be treated by the usual antibiotics) but also other infections. I think the usual definition is all infections acquired within 48 hours from the initial contact with a hospital.
ReplyDeleteThe profession has always dealt with both types but the last years especially in the UK most of the focus has been on the MRSA infections. But s a communications person I must say I understand and support the shift of focus that now seems to take place. This is both because the increased focus on patient safety overall have resulted in an understanding of that the issue is broader than mere MRSA which I think is good for the patients but also because Hospital Acquired Infections is a description of the problem that more people can understand without explanations and thereby engagement ought to be broader than for the MRSA infections only.
Its really an amazing work done by author, its an admirable work done
ReplyDeleteKeep it up
Wow that is a high number of deaths!
ReplyDeleteGreat website, continue the Excellent work!
ReplyDelete