Infection Control is a Problem in U.S. Outpatient Centers, According to Study
It’s hard to imagine that a surgery center would actually double dip into a single-dose medicine vial or reuse a medical device meant for one patient. Surprisingly, this type of lax infection practice is afflicting outpatient centers nationwide.
A recent federal study revealed some shocking practices in these medical centers. According to this study, researchers found that in some centers, the medical staff failed to wash hands, wear gloves and clean blood glucose meters. These findings, which were reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, implied that these poor infection controls could be occurring in the nation’s more than 5,000 outpatient centers.
This study followed the outbreak of hepatitis C that took place in Las Vegas. It was believed that this outbreak was the result of unsafe injection practices at two clinics, which have since been shut down.
During the study, inspectors visited 68 centers in Maryland, North Carolina and Oklahoma. While at the facility, inspectors followed at least one patient through an entire stay. Even though the inspectors’ visits were not announced ahead of time, the medical staff was informed once they arrived.
Researchers discovered that 67 percent of the centers studied had at least one lapse in infection control and 57 percent were cited for deficiencies.
“These people knew they were under observation, had the opportunity to be on their best behavior and yet these lapses were still identified, some of which potentially are very dangerous and have been warned against explicitly,” commented Dr. Philip Barie of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.
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