Tracking Infection Control in U.S. Hospitals

The CDC’s Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) progress report reveals that while efforts to eliminate infections that commonly threaten hospital patients have shown improvements, more work is needed on infection control.

On any given day, approximately one in 25 U.S. patients contracts at least one infection during the course of their hospital care, demonstrating the critical need for improved infection control in U.S. healthcare facilities.

Tracking National Progress

On the national level, the report found a:

•  46 percent decrease in central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) between 2008 and 2013. A central line-associated bloodstream infection occurs when a tube is placed in a large vein and either not put in correctly or not kept clean, becoming a highway for germs to enter the body and cause deadly infections in the blood.
• 19 percent decrease in surgical site infections (SSI) related to the 10 select procedures tracked in the report between 2008 and 2013. When germs get into the surgical wound, patients can get a surgical site infection involving the skin, organs, or implanted material.
• 6 percent increase in catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) since 2009; although initial data from 2014 seem to indicate that these infections have started to decrease. When a urinary catheter is either not put in correctly, not kept clean, or left in a patient for too long, germs can travel through the catheter and infect the bladder and kidneys.
• 8 percent decrease in MRSA bloodstream infections between 2011 and 2013.

Research shows that when healthcare facilities, care teams, and individual doctors and nurses, are aware of infection control problems and take specific steps to prevent them, rates of targeted HAIs can decrease dramatically.

Massachusetts Hospital Acquired Infection Data

View Massachusetts fact sheet full size

Data from Massachusetts hospitals showed areas of concern in Catheter associated urinary tract infections and surgical site infections related to colon surgery.

To view the Massachusetts Progress Report data in detail, download the Massachusetts Fact Sheet.

See also:

HAIs and prevention activities in Massachusetts

Massachusetts validation efforts

Click here for New Hampshire HAI Data

Click here for Rhode Island HAI Data

The HAI Progress Report was published in January 2015 using 2013 data by the Centers for Disease Control.

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