Delayed diagnosis of hospital infections can lead to a progression of disease and an adverse outcome. Left untreated, infections can progress from a local problem to sepsis, a systemic response to the infection. With further progression, sepsis can turn to shock, organ failure and, ultimately, death. Likewise, a delay in treatment can make it necessary to [...]
Hospital infections remain one of the dark secrets of American hospitals. Rather than becoming rarer, hospital infections seem to be more common. The bacteria Clostridium difficile, also called C. diff., has added to this developing danger in the last several years. USA Today reported that about 350,000 C. diff infections resulted in about 30,000 deaths nationwide in 2010. C [...]
One of the primary functions of a hospital is to provide adequate nursing staffing to monitor and treat patients. Both for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals have long attempted to cut costs by understaffing and, thereby overworking, their nursing staff. This cost-cutting (and corner-cutting) practice often has dire consequences for patients. A recent study points out one less-than-obvious consequence [...]
The New York Times reported yesterday about a 12 year-old who died from infection after abnormal test results were ignored in a New York City hospital. The boy had a known and treatable infection that progressed over a few days to sepsis and shock. Had the boy's test results been heeded, antibiotics would have undoubtedly saved his life. [...]