Private rooms: a choice between infection and profit.

patient safety and psychological benefit. Others say the evidence in support of private rooms in hospitals is inconclusive, while the more cynical suggest the ration of single-patient rooms to multi-patient rooms in hospitals is carefully designed to generate revenues. But the growing incidence of hospital-acquired infections has the nation’s nonprofit standard setting association calling for private rooms to become the norm in all hospitals built in Canada in the future so as to promote greater safety for patients. The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) argues that a move toward single patient rooms is vital as nosocomial infections are becoming a deadly concern, with more than 50% of hospital beds in Canada now on wards with four or more beds per room. An estimated 225 000 hospital-acquired infections occur annually, resulting in 8000 to 12 000 deaths (Am J Infect Control 2003; 31:266–73). There’s an 11% increase in the risk of Clostridium difficile infection, a 10% increase in the risk of methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus, and an 11% higher risk of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus infection with each exposure to a new hospital roommate, according to a recent study coauthored by Dr. Dick Zoutman, professor of microbiology at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and chief of staff at the Belleville General Hospital in Ontario (Am J Infect Control 2010; 38: 173–81). A move toward single patient rooms would be “wonderful,” Zoutman says. “I think we’ve known intuitively for a long time that a private room is going to be safer accommodations for patients.” While opting to align Canada’s guidelines with those of the United States, the United Kingdom and several ScandinaPrivate rooms: A choice between infection and profit News