(Salt Lake City, UT) – The Utah Department of Health (UDOH)
has released the complete 2012 hospital-specific report of healthcare
associated infections (HAIs) in licensed hospitals* with intensive care units
(ICUs). The report provides information on specific types of HAIs that are
reportable in Utah, including central line-associated blood stream infections
(CLABSIs), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs), and surgical
site infections (SSIs).
Overall results from
2012 show that Utah had significantly fewer CLABSIs than the national rate, but
significantly more CAUTIs and colon SSIs than the national rate. Data also show
that Utah aligns with the national rate for abdominal hysterectomy SSIs. There
is insufficient national data to make a conclusion regarding reported dialysis
facility infection data.
Dr. Allyn Nakashima, UDOH State Epidemiologist says,
“Because this is the first year of data collection for CAUTIs, SSIs and
Dialysis facilities in Utah, these data cannot yet establish HAI trends within
our state. However, recognition of the infection burden is necessary to promote
proven interventions and prevention strategies.”
The UDOH first released HAI data regarding CLABSIs for Utah
hospitals in 2008, but early reports did not identify facilities by name.
However, during the 2012 Utah Legislative Session, House Bill (HB) 55 was
passed requiring the UDOH to provide an annual report on facility-specific data
submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) through the
National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). NHSN is a national web-based
surveillance and reporting system specifically used to report HAIs and is
managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Healthcare facilities across the state are currently
implementing infection control strategies to prevent healthcare associated
infections, states Dr. Jeanmarie Mayer, Chair, Utah Healthcare Infection Prevention
Governance Committee. Many are also participating in prevention collaboratives.
We encourage all Utah hospitals to identify “best practices” that can be used
to reduce the chance of healthcare associated infections.”
The Healthcare Associated Infections in Utah 2012 Annual
Report includes a full year of reported HAI data for 2012. Annual reports are
published every October. The reports contain information for all infections
required to be reported to NHSN by CMS according to the CMS Healthcare Facility
HAI Reporting Requirements timeline. To read the entire HAI Report, visit http://health.utah.gov/epi/HAI/documents/2012_HAI_Report.pdf.
*Licensed hospitals
include acute care, long-term acute care, critical access, rehabilitation,
psychiatric, government and children’s hospitals.
