Strategies not in place to stop catheter infections
Patient Safety Monitor Alert
January 9, 2008
A new study from the University of Michigan reports that most hospitals are not using methods to adequately stop catheter infections, reports the Detroit Free Press. Catheters are used on 25% of patients, usually after surgery, and the study says that physicians continued to use catheters with their patients sometimes when unnecessary.Medicare no longer pays for infections related to catheter use, and the average infection can cost more than $40,000, reports the article. Authors on the study advise physicians to ask themselves every day if patients using catheters still need them to help prevent infection.
To read the article, click here.
