Seniors at risk of catching infections in emergency departments: study

[nec209]

TORONTO - Hospital emergency rooms can cure what ails an elderly person, but they can also send them home with an unwanted souvenir of their visit.

 

A new study suggests emergency departments may be a source of infections for seniors who turn to them for care, and a potential starting point for some of the infectious outbreaks that make their way through long-term care facilities.

 

Researchers from Montreal and Riviere-du-loup, Que., and from Toronto looked at seniors living in long-term care, comparing infection rates among those who had been recently treated in an emergency department and those who had not.

 

They found those who had been to Emerg were nearly four times more likely to have a respiratory or gastrointestinal infection in the week after the hospital visit than seniors who had not been to the hospital.

 

Lead author Dr. Caroline Quach put it another way: There were 8.3 infections per 1,000 patient days in seniors upon their return from the emergency department compared to 3.4 infections per 1,000 patient days in those who didn't go to Emerg.

 

 

Read here http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/style/seniors-at-risk-of-catching-infections-in-emergency-departments-study-137895558.html

 

 

 

How can this happen in today in this time with top standards ? I can see 100 or 150 years ago but not today.

[jorge1907]

Don't see attempt to control confoundng factor that these folks had reason to go to ER - so were certainly more compromised that those not neding medical attention. Doc's often make poor scientists.

[nec209]

Don't see attempt to control confoundng factor that these folks had reason to go to ER - so were certainly more compromised that those not neding medical attention. Doc's often make poor scientists.

 

It does not matter in todays world hospitals should be clean not dirty.

 

If they got the proper money the hospitals would be clean and thus no germs .

Edited February 23, 2012 by nec209

[Phi for All]

Often, the last thing on a person's mind as they're wheeled into an ER is covering their mouth when they cough or sneeze. ER patients are often people who's hygiene isn't the greatest in the best of situations.

 

It's practically impossible to clean every contaminate-able surface on a constant basis, even in this day and age. And the airborne contaminates in a place where you've got everything from sucking gunshot wounds to pneumonia must be equally difficult to eliminate completely. I'm actually surprised the incident rate isn't higher than 4x. I wonder how that rate compares with a visit to a normal doctor's office during cold and flu season.

[JorgeLobo]

I understand the conventonal wisdom - and let's not forget the report itself is usess to the point.

[nec209]

Often, the last thing on a person's mind as they're wheeled into an ER is covering their mouth when they cough or sneeze. ER patients are often people who's hygiene isn't the greatest in the best of situations.

 

It's practically impossible to clean every contaminate-able surface on a constant basis, even in this day and age. And the airborne contaminates in a place where you've got everything from sucking gunshot wounds to pneumonia must be equally difficult to eliminate completely. I'm actually surprised the incident rate isn't higher than 4x. I wonder how that rate compares with a visit to a normal doctor's office during cold and flu season.

 

These cases are they happing in the ER or other areas of the hospital ?

[Phi for All]

These cases are they happing in the ER or other areas of the hospital ?

The other areas of a hospital aren't usually racing against the clock the way an ER does. If there was going to be any lapse in hygienic protocols, I would imagine it would be more likely to happen in an area that is more concerned with stabilizing the patients first.

 

Surgery would probably be the only other area where time concerns are almost as important as in an emergency, but the hygienic protocols observed in an OR are most likely the best you'll find anywhere.

[JorgeLobo]

I'm aware of one large hospital that screens presurgically for MRSA. The hospital infection control determined this is the primary risk in their facility - they screen no other hospital population including personnel.