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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers proper handhygiene to be the single most important factor in protecting patients fromhospital acquired infections, which kill nearly 100,000 Americans every year.Yet most hospitals fail to ensure that health care workers follow proper handhygiene practices on a consistent basis.
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"Clean hands save lives," said Lisa McGiffert, Director of ConsumersUnion's Stop Hospital Infections campaign (www.StopHospitalInfections.org)."Unfortunately, most hospitals have a poor track record when it comes tomaking sure caregivers are protecting patients from infections by cleaningtheir hands properly."
Numerous studies have documented that hand hygiene compliance rates inmost hospitals are unacceptably low - usually below 50 percent. That means,on average, doctors, nurses and other health care workers are failing to cleantheir hands properly with over half of their patients. A recent survey by theLeapfrog Group found that only 35.6 percent of all hospitals have proper handhygiene policies recommended by the CDC in place. The Leapfrog Group did notassess whether the hospitals were following their policies.
Research shows that bacteria causing infections is often transmitted bythe unwashed hands of health care workers who have touched a patient colonizedwith bacteria or a surface in the patient's environment that is contaminated.Caregivers who leave the bedside of a colonized patient without followingproper hand hygiene can carry hundreds of thousands of units of bacteria ontheir hands. Even if caregivers wear gloves while caring for such patients,they sometimes contaminate their hands when removing gloves covered bybacteria.
According to the largest hospital-wide survey of health care workersconducted on this subject, compliance with proper hand hygiene practices waslowest in intensive care units and during procedures that carry a high risk ofbacterial contamination. Other studies have found a connection between poorhand hygiene and understaffing or overcrowding at hospitals.
"Patients expect hospital caregivers to have clean hands, but thisexpectation is not always met," said McGiffert. "One way to restore patientconfidence is for hospitals to come clean by disclosing their hand washingcompliance rates. Almost every hospital in the country has conducted handhygiene campaigns in the last few years and now it's time for them to show usthe results."
Nearly two million patients develop infections while being treated forother conditions in the hospital every year. These patients require extracare and often end up staying longer in the hospital to recover, which addsbillions of dollars to the health care bill paid by insurers, consumers, andtaxpayers every year.
In a recent report based on data collected from its hospitals,Pennsylvania found that insurers paid nearly $46,000 more for patients withinfections than for patients without infections. Dr. John A. Jernigan, Chiefof Interventions and Evaluations at the CDC, has said that these infectionsresult in up to $27.5 billion in additional hospital-related expensesannually.
Consumers Union's Stop Hospital Infections campaign works for publicdisclosure of hospital-acquired infection rates. Over the past few years,Consumers Union has helped enact requirements in 19 states to make infectionrates public. For more information, see:http://www.consumersunion.org/campaigns/learn_more_background/003544indiv.html
To learn more about the CDC's recommended hand hygiene policies forhospitals, see:http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5116a1.htm <
