Hospital acquired C. diff infections cause dangerous diarrhea that can be life-threatening. A new study almost 400 hospitals shows that nearly half of them have not taken all recommended precautions to prevent such infections.
Recommended Precautions
To keep this infection from spreading between patients, hospitals must actively monitor for the bacteria Clostridium difficile. Patients who are infected need to be cared for in separate rooms. Hospital personnel must wear special protective gowns and gloves while cleaning crews have to use stringent cleaning strategies.
Although the majority of the hospitals investigated are complying with these recommendations, about half of them have no policy to limit antibiotic use, a major contributor to C diff infection. This is referred to as antibiotic stewardship and can help keep antibiotics useful as well as reduce the risk of C diff.
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, online April 21, 2015
