News and Media

Welcome to Quality Buzz. Quality Buzz is dedicated to bringing you all the latest news and information to help you improve the quality of your health care. We update this section weekly and hope that it will become an important resource for you.

December 08, 2009 — A “Game Changing” Website

Check out http://www.patientopinion.com/. It invites patients to post their wisdom and insights about the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. As the site says, "this is our National Health Service, let's make it better." Since it launched in 2006, the website has recorded and indexed close to 18,000 comments. Consumers can easily search to find all comments posted about a particular hospital. What's most amazing is that the people behind the website send the comments to the hospitals involved and the hospitals are given an opportunity to respond. The site points to several instances where comments have contributed to positive changes. Here in the US, we have report cards on hospital performance. Patients share comments on bulletin boards sponsored by support groups. However, we don't have anything like Patient Opinion... yet. It would a real "game changer" if we did.

A 50:50 Chance of Infection
An international study of patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU) revealed that ICU patients have a 50:50 chance of having an infection. The study looked at approximately 14,000 patients who were hospitalized on a particular day in 2007. Approximately 51% were classified as having an infection. It found that the longer patients stayed in the ICU, the more likely they were to have an infection. People who had infections in the ICU were more likely to die than patients who did not have infections. Infection rates in North America were slightly below the international average.

This is yet another reminder of the importance of working with your health care team to reduce your risk of getting a dangerous infection in the hospital. For simple steps you and your family can take, visit our website.
 

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