Healthcare-associated Infections – a Preventable Threat to Patient Safety

Hello, I'm Dr. Denise Cardo, Director of the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As a physician myself, I know we all entered medical school with one idea in mind -- to save lives.

Having a patient get a healthcare-associated infection in the course of their treatment is devastating and can have tragic outcomes. Fortunately, we know how to prevent these infections. We also know that clinicians, like you, play a critical role in their prevention.

Building on research from experts in the field, CDC and professional organizations have developed evidence-based guidelines for prevention of healthcare associated infections. These guidelines can be translated into practices and are the basis for the checklists and other tools to help you prevent these infections in your patients.

We now have the scientific proof that full adherence to these evidence-based recommendations is associated with major decreases in infections. For example, many hospitals are achieving at least 70% reductions in rates of bloodstream infections in intensive care units.

An effective prevention program requires several key factors: aggressive goals, participation by everyone, strong partnership between infection prevention experts and clinicians, and especially leadership support. Despite all the successes, healthcare-associated infections remain a problem and they are threat to public health, requiring many people and organizations working together towards their elimination. Healthcare is dynamic -- there are always new procedures and technology and pathogens that continue to evolve and find ways around current treatments.

Strategies to address these challenges and the identification of additional effective prevention are critical to improving patient safety and eliminating infections.