Health News
- Activist Seeking Stronger Rules On Reporting Health-care Infections Says Industry Lobbyists Misled Legislative Committee To Kill Bill
"Health-care industry witnesses appeared to have presented incorrect information" to the House Health and Welfare Committee in speaking March 6 against House Bill 460, which would require all health-care facilities to report infections associated with...
- Infections, Other Safety Issues Plague Hospitals, Maybe More So When Nursing Is Cut; Here's A Good Series On It
The Centers for Disease Control has reported that nearly 1 million patient-safety incidents, including infections that patients acquired in hospitals, occurred among Medicare patients over the years 2006, 2007, 2008. In all, the incidents -- which represented...
- 100 Kentucky Hospitals Join Network To Improve Patient Safety, Fight Hospital-acquired Conditions Such As Infections
To help hospitals reduce preventable readmissions and hospital-acquired infections, 100 of Kentucky's 131 hospitals have joined the Kentucky Hospital Association's hospital engagement network. The group's goal is to help hospitals find ways...
- Kentucky Needs System To Track Hospital Infections, Doctor Says
Kentucky is in need of a single, accurate system that tracks hospital-acquired infections in order to improve health care and receive state and federal funding, an op-ed piece in The Courier-Journal contends. (Hospitals call these "healthcare-associated...
- Legislator Wants To Make Hospitals, Health Care Facilities Report Infections Acquired By Patients Under Their Care
In the face of strong opposition from Kentucky hospitals, a Democratic legislator has filed a bill that would require all health-care facilities to report the incidence of infections acquired by patients while under their care, the Lexington Herald-Leader's...
Health News
UK Hospital gets below average marks on patient satisfaction, infections; data on your local hospital are available online
Despite $900 million being invested in expanding the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital, its patients at do not seem all that happy with the care they receive there.
In an op-ed piece in the Lexington Herald-Leader, Dr. Kevin Kavanagh of Somerset highlights the results of a survey on patients' hospital experiences. That survey ranked UK's hospital below state and national averages in nine of 10 measures. "Especially disturbing, only 66 percent said they would definitely recommend the institution, and only 56 percent stated their room and bathroom were 'always clean'," writes Kavanagh, chairman of Health Watch USA.
The UK hospital also did not fare well when it came to its assessment by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on hospital-acquired conditions. "UK had the highest reported rate of deadly vascular catheter infections in the state," Kavanagh writes. "UK also had an unacceptably high rate of falls and deep bed ulcers. These latter conditions should be zero."
Kavanagh concluded, "If there are quality problems at UK, it is of paramount importance that they are corrected since not only current patients are at risk but also the quality of the training experience of our future clinicians, which can affect care for years to come." (Read more)
Newspapers can access information about their area hospitals by clicking here. Viewers can choose up to three hospitals and see how they compare to one another in categories like: how well nurses communicate with patients; how quiet the areas around patients are; if patients would recommend the hospital; and if patients always received help as soon as it was wanted.
Newspapers can also see the results of the CMS assessment on hospital-acquired conditions for their area hospitals by clicking here and downloading the Hospital-Acquired Condition Rates zip file (scroll down to Kentucky hospitals). The file contains data on eight hospital-acquired conditions reported between Oct. 1, 2008 and June 30, 2010. Among the conditions reported are air embolism; blood incompatibility; catheter-associated infections; falls and trauma; foreign objects left in the body after surgery; pressure ulcers; uncontrolled blood sugar levels; and urinary tract infections.
- Activist Seeking Stronger Rules On Reporting Health-care Infections Says Industry Lobbyists Misled Legislative Committee To Kill Bill
"Health-care industry witnesses appeared to have presented incorrect information" to the House Health and Welfare Committee in speaking March 6 against House Bill 460, which would require all health-care facilities to report infections associated with...
- Infections, Other Safety Issues Plague Hospitals, Maybe More So When Nursing Is Cut; Here's A Good Series On It
The Centers for Disease Control has reported that nearly 1 million patient-safety incidents, including infections that patients acquired in hospitals, occurred among Medicare patients over the years 2006, 2007, 2008. In all, the incidents -- which represented...
- 100 Kentucky Hospitals Join Network To Improve Patient Safety, Fight Hospital-acquired Conditions Such As Infections
To help hospitals reduce preventable readmissions and hospital-acquired infections, 100 of Kentucky's 131 hospitals have joined the Kentucky Hospital Association's hospital engagement network. The group's goal is to help hospitals find ways...
- Kentucky Needs System To Track Hospital Infections, Doctor Says
Kentucky is in need of a single, accurate system that tracks hospital-acquired infections in order to improve health care and receive state and federal funding, an op-ed piece in The Courier-Journal contends. (Hospitals call these "healthcare-associated...
- Legislator Wants To Make Hospitals, Health Care Facilities Report Infections Acquired By Patients Under Their Care
In the face of strong opposition from Kentucky hospitals, a Democratic legislator has filed a bill that would require all health-care facilities to report the incidence of infections acquired by patients while under their care, the Lexington Herald-Leader's...