ESTIMATED HOSPITAL COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH PREVENTABLE HEALTH CARE-ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS IF HEALTH CARE ANTISEPTIC PRODUCTS WERE UNAVAILABLE

Estimated hospital costs associated with preventable health care-associated infections if health care antiseptic products were unavailable

OBJECTIVES Health care-associated infections (HAIs) pose a significant health care and cost burden. This study estimates annual HAI hospital costs in the US avoided through use of health care antiseptics (health care personnel hand washes and rubs; surgical hand scrubs and rubs; patient preoperative and preinjection skin preparations). METHODS A spreadsheet model was developed with base case ...

Can managed health care help manage health care-associated infections?

Managed-care organizations have a unique opportunity, still largely unrealized, to collaborate with health-care providers and epidemiologists to prevent health care-associated infections. Several attributes make these organizations logical collaborators for infection control programs: they have responsibility for defined populations of enrollees and for their overall health, including preventiv...

Survey of health care-associated infections.

Targeting zero health care-associated infections.

In January of 2006, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology published APIC Vision 2012, a strategic approach to the future of the practice and profession. Goal 1 of the plan stated that APIC will ‘‘promote prevention and zero tolerance for healthcareassociated infections (HAIs).’’ Since that time, APIC’s approach has evolved and focused instead on promoting a cul...

Health-care-associated infections in developing countries.

Health-care-associated infections in developing countries are a serious issue that is scarcely addressed in the scientifi c literature. Hence, the systematic review and meta-analysis in The Lancet by Benedetta Allegranzi and colleagues from WHO, which assessed the epidemiology of health-care-associated infections, is impressive. In this study, the investigators analysed pooled data from 220 sel...