Latest NY HAI Report Shows Mandatory Disclosure Saves Lives, Committee Says

Betsy McCaughey,PhD, founder and chair of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths (RID), states, "The 2009 New York State Department of Health Hospital Acquired Infections Report (released Sept. 1, 2010) shows that mandatory disclosure saves lives by making hospitals work harder to prevent infections. Statewide rates decreased for nearly every type of infection measured. None increased."

The Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths urges New York state to include Clostridium difficile in future reports and pilot prevention programs. McCaughey notes, "This type of infection is raging through hospitals and may now be the most common hospital infection. The first line of defense is rigorous cleaning. C. diff spores contaminate many surfaces in hospitals. In at least 90 percent of C. diff cases, the patients give the infection to themselves by reaching out, touching contaminated surfaces around their bedside, then touching their lips or food and swallowing the germ. Placing a patient in an inadequately cleaned room previously occupied by a patient with C. diff can be a deadly decision, which is why effective cleaning with bleach is vitally important. How many patients think to ask, "who occupied this room before me?"