According to a new study by Consumer Reports, Glen Cove and Southside Hospitals are the only New York Metropolitan area hospitals with a zero infection rate in their Intensive Care Units (ICU). They are part of the 14 hospital North Shore-LIJ Health System.
Consumer Reports focused the study on central-line infections, a type of bloodstream infection caused by intravenous (IV) catheters used on patients. According to Consumer Reports, central-line infections are the cause of nearly 99,000 hospital-infection related deaths annually.
“The North Shore-LIJ Health System has a zero tolerance for preventable hospital-associated infections,” said Kenneth Abrams, M.D., the North Shore-LIJ senior vice president of clinical operations.
“Due to precise infection control protocols and the diligence of our surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and other clinicians, Glen Cove and Southside hospitals have stepped out in front in our quest to eliminate all preventable hospital-acquired infections,” Abrams said.
From 2004 to 2008, central-line infection rates throughout the North Shore-LIJ health system dropped 60.3 percent.
In 2008, Consumer Reports studied central-line infection records from 926 hospitals in 43 states, including 112 from New York State. New York and 26 other states require their hospitals to report infection rates to the state health department.
“If nurses and doctors strictly adhere to infection control protocols, you get results,” said Brian Pinard, M.D., chief of surgery at Glen Cove Hospital, which has been bloodstream-associated infection free for more than two years. “The majority of central lines are inserted by a core of very experienced physicians; there is a high level of cooperation and respect between our nurses and physicians; and every staff member is held accountable for patient care.”
“Surgeons must wear a mask, cap, sterile gown, gloves and use a drape on patients every time he or she inserts or removes a catheter, a process similar to preparing for a surgery,” Pinard added.
