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News > Compliance

Hospitals can do more to stop the spread of HAIs
- Thu, Jun 14

When people enter a hospital, they expect to check out in better health. However, due to healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), patients sometimes leave with a new set of problems. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that one out of 20 hospitalized patients end up acquiring an HAI.

As a result, it is imperative for healthcare professionals to do everything in their power to make sure infections do not spread to vulnerable patients receiving treatment for another condition. Unfortunately, hospitals nationwide are not doing enough to meet this goal, according to William Rutala, who authored the CDC’s Guideline for Disinfection and Sterilization in Healthcare Facilities.

Rutala was also the keynote speaker during the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology’s 2012 Conference. Here, he shared research that shows nearly one-third of high-touch, high-risk hospital objects require further sterilization.

"There's increasing evidence to support the contribution of the environment to disease transmission - that we pick up pathogens at the same level by touching the environment as by touching the patient," Rutala said. "Unless we inactivate or remove those microbes, they are going to be present in a patient room for a long time."

If caregivers have concerns over just how safe the objects they use to treat patients actually are, they may want to consider taking nursing continuing education courses.

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