A new CDC report released this week gave a status update on the national Winnable Battle to reduce hospital associated infections.   Not all medical procedures carry the same risk of infection, so the report uses something called a standardized infection ratio to compare infection rates among hospitals. It’s a complicated statistic, but basically, it divides the number of infections that actually occurred in a hospital with the number of infections that were expected in the same time period.  The lower the score the better.  

Arizona’s 2011 overall score was less than 1… meaning we did well.  Our overall average (2011) score was 0.575, which was better than expected for Arizona, and better than the national average score of 0.592. The report also shows a decrease in scores since 2010, meaning that the work Arizona hospitals are doing to decrease infections and make care safer for their patients is making a difference. If you’re interested in seeing the score for your local hospital, you can check it out on Hospital Compare. Right now, this site only shows CLABSI scores, but it’ll soon display scores for catheter-associated urinary tract infections and some surgical site infections. 

We’re making it a priority to prevent hospital associated infections by maintaining our HAI Program and licensing and inspecting healthcare facilities across the state.  We also facilitate a multidisciplinary HAI Advisory Committee that identifies and addresses priority areas for Arizona. This dedicated group of partners has collaborated continuously since 2009 to coordinate prevention efforts across the state. The partnerships and open dialogue help us improve surveillance, report and prevent hospital associated infections, which support our Strategic Map goal of reducing healthcare associated infections and re-admissions.