Nightmare, drug-resistant superbugs, including one that kills half the people who get it, are a big threat

"Nightmare bacteria" leading to deadly infections that are difficult and sometimes impossible to treat are on the rise in American hospitals, and threaten to spread to otherwise healthy people outside of medical facilities, according to a federal Centers for Disease Control Vital Signs report published Tuesday.


These superbugs, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, have become resistant to nearly all the antibiotics available today, including drugs of last resort. According to the report, CRE infections are caused by a family of germs that are a normal part of a person's healthy digestive system, but can cause infections when they get into the bladder, blood or other areas where they don't belong.

The report says almost all CRE infections are found in patients receiving serious medical care, and they kill up to half of patients who get bloodstream infections from them. In addition to spreading among people, CREs easily spread their antibiotic resistance to other kinds of germs, making those potentially untreatable as well.

Only 10 years ago, such resistance was hardly ever seen in this group of germs. Although these superbugs are uncommon, their prevalence has quadrupled in the past decade in medical facilities in 42 states, the CDC says.

The report calls for immediate action to stop the spread of these deadly infection; it is a critical time for U.S. doctors, nurses lab staff, medical facility leaders, health departments, states, policymakers and patients to help fight the spread through coordinated and consistent efforts.

The report asks patients to do three things: Tell your doctor if you have been hospitalized in another facility or country, take antibiotics only as prescribed, and insist that everyone wash their hands before touching you. For more details, click here for the Vital Signs report.

100 Kentucky hospitals join network to improve patient safety, fight hospital-acquired conditions such as infections

To help hospitals reduce preventable readmissions and hospital-acquired infections, 100 of Kentucky's 131 hospitals have joined the Kentucky Hospital Association's hospital engagement network. The group's goal is to help hospitals find ways to improve patient safety, reduce readmissions and hospital-acquired conditions such as infections, and share learning among hospitals.

The network hopes to reduce the incidence of adverse drug events; catheter-associated urinary tract infections; central-line-associated bloodstream infections; injuries from falls and immobility; obstetrical adverse events; pressure ulcers; surgical site infections; venous thromboembolisms or deep vein clots; ventilator-associated pneumonia; and preventable readmissions.

The two-year project is supported by a contract with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as part of the "Partnership for Patients" campaign, launched earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The goal for the project is to reduce preventable  readmissions that occur within 30 days of discharge by 20 percent and hospital-acquired infections by 40 percent (compared to 2010) by the end of 2013.

"The commitment to patient safety and quality by hospitals across Kentucky has resulted in lives saved, fewer complications and reduced costs," said Mark J. Neff, chair of the KHA board of trustees and president and CEO of St. Claire Regional Medical Center in Morehead. For a list of hospitals participating in the network, click here.

UK Hospital gets below average marks on patient satisfaction, infections; data on your local hospital are available online

Despite $900 million being invested in expanding the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital, its patients at do not seem all that happy with the care they receive there.

In an op-ed piece in the Lexington Herald-Leader, Dr. Kevin Kavanagh of Somerset highlights the results of a survey on patients' hospital experiences. That survey ranked UK's hospital below state and national averages in nine of 10 measures. "Especially disturbing, only 66 percent said they would definitely recommend the institution, and only 56 percent stated their room and bathroom were 'always clean'," writes Kavanagh, chairman of Health Watch USA.

The UK hospital also did not fare well when it came to its assessment by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on hospital-acquired conditions. "UK had the highest reported rate of deadly vascular catheter infections in the state," Kavanagh writes. "UK also had an unacceptably high rate of falls and deep bed ulcers. These latter conditions should be zero."

Kavanagh concluded, "If there are quality problems at UK, it is of paramount importance that they are corrected since not only current patients are at risk but also the quality of the training experience of our future clinicians, which can affect care for years to come." (Read more)

Newspapers can access information about their area hospitals by clicking here. Viewers can choose up to three hospitals and see how they compare to one another in categories like: how well nurses communicate with patients; how quiet the areas around patients are; if patients would recommend the hospital; and if patients always received help as soon as it was wanted.

Newspapers can also see the results of the CMS assessment on hospital-acquired conditions for their area hospitals by clicking here and downloading the Hospital-Acquired Condition Rates zip file (scroll down to Kentucky hospitals). The file contains data on eight hospital-acquired conditions reported between Oct. 1, 2008 and June 30, 2010. Among the conditions reported are air embolism; blood incompatibility; catheter-associated infections; falls and trauma; foreign objects left in the body after surgery; pressure ulcers; uncontrolled blood sugar levels; and urinary tract infections.

Legislator wants to make hospitals, health care facilities report infections acquired by patients under their care

In the face of strong opposition from Kentucky hospitals, a Democratic legislator has filed a bill that would require all health-care facilities to report the incidence of infections acquired by patients while under their care, the Lexington Herald-Leader's Beth Musgrave reports.

"The cost of hospital-acquired infections to Kentucky's health care system is estimated to be $392 to $462 million each year," state Sen. Denise Harper Angel, left, said, calling the sum "staggering." The Louisville legislator also wants to require all health facilities to implement infection-prevention programs.

Nancy Galvagni, senior vice president of the Kentucky Hospital Association, said the federal government already requires that hospital-acquired infections be reported. "There is no need for a new state mandate which would only add additional, unneeded costs on Kentucky's hospitals and state government," she said.

Infections commonly acquired at health facilities include "urinary tract infections caused by catheters, pneumonia caused by ventilators and surgical wound infections," Musgrave reports. Some report as many as 1,400 people die in Kentucky each year from hospital-acquired infections (which hospitals prefer to call "healthcare-associated infections," keeping the acronym but spreading the blame).

Senate Bill 72 would require that health care facilities report their infection data to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services by July 1, 2012. (Read more)