Public Health 

Death by complication: The hospital infection threat

Partner: 
Sacramento Bee
Summary: 

Every year, an estimated 200,000 Californians fall victim to an infection acquired in a hospital.  For a surprisingly large number, the infection is life-ending.  About 12,000 people die every year from hospital infections in California, more than three times the number of people who die from auto accidents in the state.  Even so, these deaths often occur in the shadows, with little or no public accounting.  Are hospitals and government regulators doing all they can to stop or limit the spread of hospital infections?  Some critics say the answer is no.  In California, the state's Department of Public Health comes in for particular criticism, in part because it has been slow to implement legislation passed in 2006 and 2008 addressing the problem.

Results
Infection lurks in hospital wards, and it kills
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | May 29, 2011
The diarrhea started the night Tony Lewis came home from the hospital after routine leg surgery. Dazed, he collapsed on the floor of his Natomas apartment and then on the front lawn as his daughter struggled to guide him to her car. They raced back to Sacramento's Sutter General Hospital, where he was readmitted, X-rayed, tested. The diarrhea got worse. Tests pinpointed a virulent infection wracking his intestines, destroying his bowels. "I just didn't understand," said his daughter Alison Gilbreath, 39, of Fair Oaks. "But my mother did. She said, 'What have they done to him?' "
Read More
Results
State slow to implement anti-infection measures
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | May 29, 2011
California legislators passed some of the nation's toughest anti-infection laws in 2006 and 2008 to assure that patients are protected from dangerous bacteria in the hospitals that are supposed to heal them. That campaign has faltered, due to thin resources and missteps at the state Department of Public Health, which is charged with protecting the health of state residents. Critics say a key reason is that hospitals have too much control over the agency's program to combat hospital-acquired infections. Department officials counter that they are committed to making the complex laws work, but have been plagued with budget cuts and funding delays.
Read More
Results
How you can help stop hospital infections
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | May 29, 2011
An estimated 2 million U.S. hospital patients get infection annually. Patients are being urged to do their part to help stop infections. Hand-washing: Hospital patients and visitors should wash their hands frequently, especially after eating, using restrooms, coughing or sneezing, or touching surfaces such as bed rails, door knobs and remote controls. Soap: When using soap and warm water, rub hands and fingers for at least 15 seconds or as long as it takes to sing "Happy Birthday" twice. Some hospitals suggest patients ask doctors, nurses, even friends and relatives, if they've washed their hands.
Read More
Results
Anatomy of a hospital infection
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | May 29, 2011
Clostridium difficile is a bacterium that can cause diarrhea, abdominal pain and more severe symptoms. In the past few years, states have been reporting an upsurge in C. difficile infections with more severe cases and more deaths. AT RISK: At least 80 percent of cases occur in health care facilities. Most at risk are people who have been treated with antibiotics, the elderly, or those who have had intestinal tract surgery, colon problems or a weakened immune system. CAUSES: C. difficile bacteria are contained in human feces and can spread via the hands of health care workers to uninfected patients. Its spores can live for months on bathroom fixtures, bed linens and bed rails.
Read More
Results
UC Davis Medical Center struggles with infections
Anita Creamer, The Sacramento Bee | May 30, 2011
Hospitalization too often puts patients at risk. They can contract infections from the insertion, maintenance and removal of urinary catheters as well as central line catheters that are placed in large veins to make it easier to administer medicine and fluids. They can also get sick from a variety of antibiotic-resistant bugs, including Clostridium difficile and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). An estimated 12,000 Californians die annually from these preventable infections, according to state Department of Public Health statistics. State and federal statistics show that UC Davis Medical Center struggles more than most other local hospitals with high infection rates, especially those related to catheters.
Read More
Results
California declines national infection-fighting program
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | May 30, 2011
Dr. Peter Pronovost spearheaded a program that sharply reduced potentially deadly infections at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and has created a much-acclaimed model that has since spread to 46 states in the nation. California is not among them. Leaders of the state's hospital industry, calling their own infection-fighting programs superior, turned down an invitation to join the program two years ago, along with as much as $70,000 in federal funding.
Read More
Results
Graphics: Hospital-Acquired Infection Rates
Center Staff, Sacramento Bee | May 31, 2011
Read More
Results
Editorial: Hospital infections too deadly to ignore
Sacramento Bee editorial | June 1, 2011
As statutes go, Nile's Law should have been a snap to implement. The 2008 law, approved by a combined vote in the Legislature of 114-4, is aimed at informing consumers about a serious health threat.  The California Department of Public Health, hospitals, unions, and patient advocates agreed on the compromise. As described by Sen. Elaine Alquist, the bill's author, the measure was intended to provide people with readily accessible information about hospital-acquired infections, and name hospitals and their infection rates.
Read More
Results
Legislators disappointed in state's infections performance
Deborah Schoch, CHCF Center for Health Reporting | June 2, 2011
Key California legislators who oversee the state’s health agencies said Wednesday that they are disappointed in how slowly the state Department of Public Health has acted on landmark laws designed to protect hospital patients from potentially deadly infections.  They said they are looking to the administration of Gov. Jerry Brown to make sure those laws are implemented swiftly.   “With the new administration, I hope there is a greater sense of urgency.  Thousands of Californians die each year from preventable infections -- infections they get in the hospital,” said Democratic Sen. Elaine Alquist, author of a key 2008 law requiring the public reporting of hospital infections.  
Read More
Results
State issues improved guide to hospital infections
Deborah Schoch | January 6, 2012
This story has been updated with reaction and new information. California health officials Friday unveiled new hospital-acquired infection rates for hundreds of private and public hospitals and vowed to become a national leader in making that data public for consumers to review. The barrage of reports appears to reflect a major change from January 2011, when the state stumbled badly in its first-ever release of statistics on patients who suffered infections during hospital stays.
Read More