Staying in a multi-bed hospital room dramatically increases the risk of acquiring a serious infectious disease, Queen's University researchers have discovered. A new study led by infectious diseases expert Dr. Dick Zoutman says the chance of acquiring serious infections such as Clostridium difficile rises with the addition of every hospital roommate.
"If you're in a two-, three- or four-bedded room, each time you get a new roommate your risk of acquiring these serious infections increases by 10 percent," says Zoutman, professor of community health and epidemiology at Queen's. "That's a substantial risk, particularly for longer hospital stays when you can expect to have many different roommates."
Zoutman suggests hospitals need to consider more private rooms in their planning. "Despite other advances, multi-bedded rooms are still part of hospital design in the 21st century. Building hospitals with all private rooms is not yet the standard in Ontario or Canada – but it should be."
Also on the Queen's team are master's student Meghan Hamel and Associate Professor Christopher O'Callaghan. The findings are published online in the American Journal of Infection Control.
