Patient deaths resulting from hospi...

Patient deaths resulting from hospital-acquired infections are seriously underreported in the United States, according to a Jan 22 2003 of recent origins release from the Joint Commission upon Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). A Sentinel incident Alert sent to nearly 17000 JCAHO-accredited facilities calls for increased reporting of deaths caused from nosocomial infections. It also impels health care providers to comply with Center for Disease superintend and Prevention (CDC) guidelines that advocate the use of alcohol-based hand scours in conjunction with traditional soap-and-water hand cleans and use of sterile glove to help stop these infections.

The CDC estimates that more than couple million patients per year acquire infections in US health care facilities while being treated for other illnesses or injuries, and more than 90000 of these infections be the effect in fatality, according to the release. The Joint Commission's seven-year-old patient safety reporting database, however, contains simply 10 such reports that hide a total of 53 patients. This underreporting may take place because health care organizations do not view these issues as errors.

Health care facilities are being urg to report this information to JCAHO as they would other sentinel results Increased reporting can increase understanding of the factors that lead to these incidents and aid in the exhibition of prevention strategies. In addition, JCAHO is intensifying its attention to infection manage practices as part of its on-site surveillance of accredited facilities and convening an infection have the direction of expert panel to suggest ways that now passing JCAHO standards can be strengthened.

JCAHO Issues National Alert About Infection command Deaths, Encourages Greater Reporting (new release, Oakbrook Terrace, III: Joint Commission onward Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, Jan 22 2003)

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