Consumer Reports has found high Clostridium difficile infection rates at teaching hospitals, according to an article on Healthcare Finance website.
About one-third of the 31,000-plus hospitals evaluated received a low score for C. diff infection control, which meant their infection rates were lower than the national benchmark. Nineteen of the country's largest teaching hospitals were on the list.
Just two teaching hospitals with at least 500 beds — Maimonedes Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. and Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Fla. — earned top C. diff prevention scores.
Something as simple as keeping things clean can help with these infection rates, according to Consumer Reports. Rooms should be cleaned with EPA-approved germ-killing agents, and healthcare workers' hands should be gloved as much as possible, and washed thoroughly once the gloves are removed.
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