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Study: Staph infections lead to threefold increase in length of stay

Case Management Weekly, August 17, 2005

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A study at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago has found that staph infections cause serious problems for hospitals, including a three-fold increase in the average patient length of stay, a considerable cost increase, and a higher likelihood of mortality. The results were published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, according to a press release from the hospital. The study's authors suggested a number of remedies to decrease the risk of staph infections, including practicing thorough hand hygiene and using antibiotics for surgical incisions.

The study analyzed two years of data and found that staph infections were listed as a discharge diagnosis in nearly 1% of all hospital stays, or an average of 292,045 stays in a year. Staph-infected patients had, on average, three times the length of stay (14.3 vs. 4.5 days), three times the total charges ($48,824 vs. $14,141), and five times the risk of in-hospital death (11.2 percent vs. 2.3 percent) than stays without this infection. To read the complete report, click here.

Source: Patient Flow Weekly, HCPro, Inc.

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