Quality & Patient Safety

Inexpensive infection control saves millions of lives, billions of dollars

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, September 14, 2011

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A new study by University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill found that adopting inexpensive infection control measures –including hand hygiene, ventilator-associated pneumonia bundles, and following central-line catheter guidelines for insertion and maintenance—saved $12,000 per patient by reducing length of stay by two days on average.

The study also found that patient deaths reduced by two percentage points.

Costs for materials to implement these practices are low, about $21.60 a day per patient. However, a hospital unit could save an estimated $12 million a year.

Source: UNC press release



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