NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – A state report shows bacterial blood infections among the sickest patients in Tennessee hospitals was 20 percent higher than the national average in 2008.
The Tennessean in Nashville reports that the report is the first since the state’s hospitals started actively collecting and sharing data with the state on the count of bloodstream infections in intensive care patients with central lines. Those are most commonly tubes near the groin and collarbone.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s chief quality and patient safety officer, Julie Morath, told the newspaper the report based on information provided to the Tennessee Department of Health shows there is work to be done.
“It was a sobering report when we looked at how Tennessee compared with the rest of the nation,” Morath said. “We have an obligation and some heavy lifting to do, but you can’t improve on that which you are not aware.”
The numbers were the highest among patients in pediatric intensive care units and teaching hospitals’ trauma units, with more than three infections per 1,000 central line days.