How safe is your hospital?

Keeping hospitals clean and safe is a big job. Without a great deal of attention to detail, thing can get very bad very fast. As little as three years ago, Clarendon Memorial Hospital received a grade of F from the Leapfrog Group, a voluntary program that works to reduce preventable medical errors in hospitals. Since 2012, Clarendon has made efforts to increase patient safety; this year, they received a B.

One of the areas that Clarendon worked on improving was the number of patients who developed hospital acquired infections, or HAIs. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention tell us that, “… on any given day, about 1 in 25 hospital patients has at least one healthcare-associated infection

[HAI]. There were an estimated 722,000 HAIs in U.S. acute care hospitals in 2011. About 75,000 hospital patients with HAIs died during their hospitalizations.”

Common HAIs

Hospital acquired infections are preventable through best practices. Sanitary medical supplies and sterile conditions prevent infection, while frequent hand washing by doctors keeps these conditions pristine. An HAI is almost always the result of negligence.

If you or someone you know is in a hospital or long-term care facility, knowing the following information can be invaluable. The CDC offers this information about common HAI’s:

• Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) is a type of staph bacteria that is resistant to certain antibiotics called beta-lactams. These antibiotics include methicillin and other more common antibiotics such as oxacillin, penicillin, and amoxicillin. In the community, most MRSA infections are skin infections. More severe or potentially life-threatening MRSA infections occur most frequently among patients in Healthcare Settings.
• Clostridium difficile is a bacterium that causes an inflammation of the colon; this condition is called colitis. Diarrhea and fever are the most common symptoms of Clostridium difficile  Overuse of antibiotics is the most important risk for getting Clostridium difficileinfection.
• Gram-negative bacteriacause infections including pneumonia, bloodstream infections, wound or surgical site infections, and meningitis in healthcare settings. Gram-negative bacteria are resistant to multiple drugs and are increasingly resistant to most available antibiotics. Gram-negative infections include those caused by Klebsiella, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and  coli., as well as many other less common bacteria.

Hospitals are evaluated based several key criteria. However, they are not required to report every case of HAI. In fact, in 2013, the most recent year for which data is available, some South Carolina hospitals reported nothing at all, and others only reported partial data.

If you or someone you know is in a hospital, remember that it is acceptable and even encouraged to ask questions. Make sure your healthcare providers are washing their hands and using clean equipment. If you or someone you know has been the victim of a healthcare-associated infection, please contact McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips, LLC to schedule a no-obligation consultation with a skilled South Carolina medical malpractice attorney.