Dive Brief:
- The Leapfrog Group has released the results of a survey indicating that overall, hospitals across the U.S. have yet to implement and enforce sufficient practices to improve patient safety.
- Among its findings are that one in four hospitals have yet to implement hand washing practices.
- According to an analysis by health management company Castlight Health, the numbers do indicate an improvement in 2014 for hand hygiene, but rural hospitals are performing more poorly on this front than urban hospitals.
Dive Insight:
As noted by Leapfrog, handwashing is one of the simplest and most effective safety strategies hospitals can implement for patients and healthcare workers alike. It adds that hospital-acquired infections are fatal to about 10% of those afflicted, according to the CDC's Healthcare-Associated Infections Progress Report.
"Rural or urban, affluent or safety net, there's no excuse for a hospital to fail on hand hygiene," said Leapfrog President and CEO Leah Binder. "It puts patients, clinicians, and all healthcare workers at risk when hand washing is not a priority."
Among the report's additional key findings:
- More hospitals are now meeting all 10 of Leapfrog's hand-hygiene practices; the percentage rose from 69% in 2013 to 77% in 2014.
- Urban hospitals are continuing to outperform rural hospitals on safety measures. About 20% more urban hospitals met Leapfrog's standards and demonstrated greater year-over-year improvement.
- Geography appears to play a role in hand-hygiene practices. In five states, more than 90% of reporting hospitals said they have fulfilled all practices, while in six states, fewer than 60% of reporting hospitals said they have done so.