Monday, October 29, 2007
Editorial: Information patients need to know
Virginia should require hospitals to report infections contracted under their care. Reporting could prompt institutions to take greater care.
From the RoundTable blog
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It is not known where or how a Bedford County teen picked up an antibiotic-resistant staph infection that killed him. So it can't be said whether better reporting of the germ in both hospitals and the community could have helped prevent Ashton Bonds from contracting the disease.
But his death exposed a serious deficiency in Virginia's health system: The commonwealth isn't tracking the communicable disease that has found its way out of hospitals and into schools and health clubs.
Last week, Gov. Tim Kaine took the first corrective step by requiring that laboratories report to the health department cases of Methicilin-resistant Staphylococcus auerus.
Virginia could do more and join the growing list of states that require hospitals to report staph and other hospital-acquired infections. About 2 million Americans pick up infections each year in hospitals, and about 90,000 die of them. Many are caused by MRSA, a disease that a recent Centers for Disease Control study estimates could be responsible for more American deaths each year than AIDS.
MRSA cases continue to increase in the medical setting and are now becoming prevalent in the community, especially in places like schools, health clubs and jails where people come into contact with each other.
Since most invasive MRSA cases are traced to hospitals, it makes sense to concentrate efforts there. Hospitals claim they have been doing their part by encouraging better hygiene, such as consistent hand washing and sterilizing equipment. Some have started swabbing patients' noses to test whether they are carrying the germ.
Despite this, cases continue to rise partly because many states, like Virginia, have failed to require hospitals to report the infections. Reporting, especially when that information is shared with the public and patients, could spur subpar hospitals into cleaning up their acts.
Some states already require routine testing of patients to determine if they carry the germ. That practice is still somewhat controversial. Its effectiveness is uncertain (as many people harmlessly harbor the bacteria), and hospitals claim a high cost associated with mandatory testing.
But there is a low-tech, low-cost way of cutting infection rates: Make sure hospital staff frequently wash their hands, use alcohol rubs and disinfect surfaces and equipment.
The public's health can no longer rest on assurances that hospitals are doing this. Sometimes government has to step in to make sure hospitals are consistent in infection-control. Measure and report the rates.
