Ohio hospitals reduce blood infections by a third

Participating in a national two-year project, about 50 Ohio hospitals have reduced the rate of central-line bloodstream infection by more than a third, from 3.43 per 10,000 patient days to 2.2 per 10,000 patient days, according to the Ohio Hospital Association (Source: “Hospitals cutting infections,” Toledo Blade, July 8, 2011).

The project, which is being led by the Health Research & Educational Trust, an affiliate of the American Hospital Association, calls for hospitals to increase efforts to keep areas around central-line catheters clean and continually assess whether they are necessary.

The reduction is significant because, according to OHA estimates, it can cost $84,000 to treat each bloodstream infection associated with a central-line catheter, and up to 30 percent of cases are fatal.