WBOC-TV 16, Delmarvas News Leader, FOX 21 - Delaware Hospital Data to be Public

Delaware Hospital Data to be Public

07/12/2007 11:40 PM ET

DOVER, Del.- Hospitals in Delaware can no longer keep certain information about infections secret from the public.

Gov. Ruth Ann Minner signed a bill into law Thursday that will require all hospitals throughout the state to report cases of patient infections to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  The first quarterly report is due June 2009.  After hospitals submit their totals to the CDC, they will then become available to the public.

In 2006, Maryland passed similar legislation aimed at researching and tracking various hospital infections.  Delaware's bill requires amounts for specific infections.  Three key infection-tracking areas are:

• Surgical site infections in patients with total hip and knee replacements.
• Central venous catheter, or I-V infections in patients in intensive care.
• Information on the compliance of hospitals to have their workers receive flu vaccines.

In Dover, Kent General Hospital officials say tracking infections is not anything new.  They say they already closely monitor patient infections.  The only difference with this new bill, they say, is they will be reporting their numbers to a different data base than they do now.

Kent General Hospital Disease Control Director Jessica Snow say infections do occur in hospitals, but there are steps to help patients reduce their risks. 

"Talk with your doctor in a check-up about risk factors like smoking, diabetes and obesity," Snow said.

She said other factors cannot be avoided.

"You came to the hospital, you may have a procedure done to you that puts you at risk, or you are put on a ventilator, or a cathidor put in," Snow said.  "Anytime we insert a tube or do something to the patient, it increases their risk of infection."

The most obvious suggestion, according to Snow, is that all patients, staff and vistors wash their hands several times while in the hospital.  She said this will reduce germs that can lead to infection.