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GAO: Government needs to better protect patients from infections

Quality Improvement Monitor, April 18, 2008

The federal government needs to do more to protect patients from hospital infections, which kill 90,000 people each year and cost an estimated $5 billion, according to the Baltimore Sun.

The Government Accountability Office this week reported that the U.S. has not established sufficient standards for hospitals to follow such as requiring nurses and doctors to wash their hands regularly.

"Safety needs the equivalent of a polio campaign," Peter J. Pronovost, MD, medical director of Johns Hopkins' Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care, testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee this week on the issue, the Sun reported.

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