The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced that surgical site infections across the country are down. However, the agency wants to maintain the momentum of progress in reducing the number of these infections. The agency has teamed up in a strategic collaboration with the American College of Surgeons in order to reduce these infection rates further.

The partnership between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Surgeons is based on the sharing of expertise and resources. The initiative will track, report and prevent surgical site infections. The initiative will share resources by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases and the American College of Surgeons’ National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. These organizations will form a working group to focus on both infectious as well as noninfectious complications found after surgery.

Arizona medical malpractice lawyers believe that this initiative will bring together the best minds in the healthcare industry. For instance, the initiative is expected to pool together not just financial resources and research, but also bring together a host of clinicians, surveillance experts, as well as leaders in infection prevention and control.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, across the country, there was a decline in surgical site infections in 2010. However, substantial decreases were found only in coronary artery bypass grafting. This, in turn, affected the overall surgical site infection rates across the country. What this indicates is that there is a continued need to make further progress towards preventing these very preventable infections.

More and more hospitals around the country are now using the help of so-called robotic drug dispensers, to lower the burden on healthcare personnel. However, Arizona medical malpractice lawyers believe that there is a high risk of contamination of drugs and consequent infections with the use of these dispensers.

Staff numbers at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina recently conducted a routine screening of the robotic drug dispenser in their facility. They were shocked to find cultures of the Bacillus cereus bacteria in the samples dispensed by the robot.

This particular type of bacteria is extremely harmful, and causes thousands of hospital-acquired infections every year. What makes the bacteria so dangerous is that it is resistant to many types of antibiotics used to treat infections in hospitals.

The dispenser in this case was being used to prepare intravenous drugs. If a bacillus cereus-contaminated intravenous drug is administered to patients, the patient may be at high risk of developing a bloodstream infection.

Bloodstream infections are potentially life-threatening. The organisms can quickly find their way into the bloodstream, speeding up the infection process. Fortunately, in this particular North Carolina hospital, the staff members did not discover any infections resulting from the contaminated drug dispenser.

However, when the researchers completed their investigations, they were able to link the contamination with the dispenser’s washing station and tubing. According to the researchers, there are no specific maintenance and cleaning procedures that are outlined for the washing station, and therefore, there is a potential for confusion over the exact cleaning practices to be followed. Improper cleaning could easily lead to contamination of the drug dispenser.

This is the first time the researchers have found bacterial contamination of any robotic dispenser anywhere in the country. However, it is likely that the contamination problem exists in dispensers elsewhere in the country too.

Even as the numbers of other hospital-acquired infections like MRSA and central line-associated infections have been declining in number, the number of infections caused by the deadly Clostridium difficile bacteria has actually been increasing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting historic highs in the incidence of these deadly infections.

Annually, approximately 14,000 Americans and 300,000 people fall sick from C. difficile infections. An overwhelming majority of these infections occur in healthcare settings. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 90% of these infections are linked to medical care. Out of these, 75% are traced to hospitals, nursing homes, doctors’ offices, clinics, outpatient settings and other healthcare environments.

What the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Arizona medical malpractice attorneys are really concerned about is the increase in the number of infections that have been traced to outpatient facilities, doctor’s offices and other facilities that were not linked to these infections before.

These infections lead to a variety of symptoms that include inflammation and severe diarrhea. Healthy persons may not be at a high risk of contracting the infections. However, persons who have recently been on a course of antibiotics may have a much higher risk of contracting these infections. People who are on antibiotics are approximately 7 to 10 times more likely to contract C. difficile infections. Those who have finished a course of antibiotics are up to 3 times more likely to contract the infection. This is because antibiotics tend to strip the system of essential bacteria, and this leaves the door open for Clostridium Difficile bacteria.

The CDC recommends judicious use of antibiotics, immediate testing of persons who are on antibiotics and have diarrhea, bleaching of contaminated surfaces, and wearing gloves and gowns while treating infected patients, to prevent C difficile infections.

Deadly infections caused by unsterilized, filthy medical devices and surgical tools cause a high number of postsurgical infections every year. The Food and Drug Administration have been aware of the problem for at least a few years now, but has failed to take any action.

The agency's failure to take action is perplexing to Arizona medical malpractice attorneys, because there have been several highly publicized outbreaks involving patients who were infected by contaminated medical equipment. For instance, veterans who went to Department of Veterans Affairs centers in Tennessee, Georgia and Florida, for endoscopies and colonoscopies, were administered the procedures with filthy devices. As a result, these patients developed illnesses ranging from HIV to Hepatitis B and C. Some of the veterans have filed lawsuits against the Department Of Veterans Affairs.

The previous year, there had been a hepatitis A outbreak at a Las Vegas endoscopic Center. There too, the implements had not been sterilized properly, and as a result, at least 6 people were infected. Investigations into that incident revealed that endoscopes had not been properly cleaned after use. Staff had also been reusing instruments that are typically meant for single use only.

Soon after the Las Vegas outbreak, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services conducted inspections of about 1,500 outpatient surgery centers across the country. Out of these, 28% were cited for deficiencies related to sterilization of equipment.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, the number of surgical infections is so high because there has been a recent proliferation of highly complex surgical instruments, combined with inadequate testing of devices by manufacturers. Additionally, staff in charge of sterilizing devices between procedures, may be overstressed due to lack of sufficient staffing resources, and may be under pressure to get the devices sterilized quickly before the next procedure.

For years, conventional medical wisdom has held that when a baby has an identifiable abnormality, delivery should preferably be scheduled for a weekday. As a new study indicates to Arizona medical malpractice lawyers, there may be no grounds for that belief. According to the study, infants with birth defects who were delivered on weekends fared just as well as infants with birth defects born during weekdays.

Researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York investigated 2 groups of newborn infants. Both groups stayed at the same hospital during the same period of time, and both groups had the same rate of admission to the neonatal intensive care unit. Additionally, both groups also required antibiotic therapy and respiratory assistance the same number of times.

A total of 200 incidents were involved in the study. In all these cases, doctors identified nonlethal birth defects during pregnancy.

However, the researchers found no difference in the health of the babies, when these were delivered on weekends compared to weekdays. The researchers say that the timing of the delivery is not really important when it comes to the health of a baby.

In fact, it would be much better for the mother if the delivery was actually allowed to take place naturally, without any induction. There are complications involved in inducing labor. For instance, there is the risk of heavy bleeding, and a higher risk of a Cesarean section when labor is induced. Also, when labor is induced, women are more likely to have an extended hospitalization stay.

Overall, the researchers recommend that when a baby is known to have a birth defect, the delivery be allowed to commence naturally whenever the woman is ready.