Healthcare associated infections continue to be a leading cause of death

GHN News Editor - One
of the top ten leading causes of death in healthcare has to do with
infections within hospitals.  In fact there are nearly 2 million HAIs
associated with 100,000 deaths annually.

New

funding of $34 has been provided by the Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality under Health and Human Services to improve the quality of
care for hospital patients and expand the fight against healthcare
infections in ambulatory care settings, hospitals, end-stage renal
disease facilities and long-term care facilities.

This
new funding will help improve the quality of care delivered to patients
and expand the fight against HAIs in hospitals, ambulatory care
settings, end-stage renal disease facilities and long-term care
facilities.

Hospitals
have been examining infection rates and looking at preventative
measures, but according to AHRQ, there is not enough information
currently available on infections originating in other health care
settings.

"We
know that infections can occur in any health care setting," said
Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., AHRQ director. “With these new projects, we can
apply what has worked in reducing infections in hospitals to other
settings and ultimately help patients feel confident they are in safe

hands, regardless of where they receive care.”

Haiti, Pakistan, Somalia: Casualties overwhelming medical capacity

Doctors Without Borders - GHN --The outbreak of intense fighting in Somalia has brought a new sense of urgency for medical care of people caught in the crossfire of a savage war, with extremists on both sides, as medical relief is taxed in areas fraught with war or natural disasters.

 Ongoing warfare in Mogadishu is straining ability to treat scores of wounded, according to Doctors Without Borders.  In the meantime, the organization remains on the front lines helping the people of Haiti and Pakistan recover from devastation caused by earthquakes and flooding.

In a recent press release from the organization, Doctors Without Borders report there is intense combat, especially  on September 23 in the Somali
capital, Mogadishu, has overloaded a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans
Frontières (MSF)-supported hospital with dozens of severely wounded people,
including women and children.  As of September 24, 81 people had been
admitted to Dayniile Hospital on the outskirts of Mogadishu, the vast majority
suffering from blast wounds. Four patients have died.

The MSF team set up an additional tent in
the hospital compound to accommodate the new influx of patients.  Three
other tents had previously been set up to manage the overflow from the
59-bed hospital, which received 45 war-wounded people during a single day
last week.  There are currently 161 people being treated.

“The people of Mogadishu are bearing the
brunt of an ongoing, vicious war, and our medical staff is struggling to
keep up,” said MSF Head of Mission Thierry Goffeau.  “This latest
round of violence, which has been growing in intensity for the last month,
is straining our capacity to adequately meet the enormous emergency medical
needs of the population.”

Since August 23, the MSF team has treated
500 war-wounded people, 370 of them suffering from blast injuries and 130
from gunshot wounds.  Nearly 200 surgeries have been performed.
Some medical supplies are out of stock in
Mogadishu and MSF has moved to rapidly resupply Dayniile Hospital with
items ranging from drainage tubes to sheets and mattresses.

“Men, women, and young children have been
admitted to the hospital with the most horrific blast injuries,” said
Goffeau.  “Tragically, conflict in Mogadishu is nothing new, but
the impact on the civilian population must not be forgotten.”

MSF operates projects in eight regions
of south central Somalia. More than 1,300 Somali staff, supported by more
than 100 staff in Nairobi, Kenya, provide primary health care, tuberculosis
and malnutrition treatment, surgery, and water and relief supplies to displaced
people. MSF does not accept any government funding for its projects in
Somalia, relying solely on donations from individuals throughout the world.

It is also providing medical care in Haiti and Pakistan on an ongoing basis.