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On October 13, 2005, the World Health Organization launched the Global Patient Safety Challenge. Here are some interesting facts from their report Clean Care is Safer Care: • At any time, more than
1.4 million people worldwide are suffering from infections
acquired in a hospital.
• Between 5% and 10% of
patients admitted to hospitals in the developed world
acquire one or more infections. The risk of healthcare-associated
infections in developing countries is two to 20 times
higher than in developed countries.
• In the United States,
one out of every 136 hospital patients becomes seriously
ill as a result of a nosocomial infection, which
means two million cases (and about 80,000 deaths)
each year. These healthcare-associated infections
are estimated to cost between US$4.5-5.7 billion.
• Unsafe blood transfusions
cause 16 million hepatitis B infections, five million
hepatitis C infections, and 160,000 HIV cases worldwide
every year. In 2000–2001, more than 70 countries
did not test all donated blood for hepatitis B, hepatitis
C, HIV, and syphilis.
• One injury from a needle
used on an infected patient carries a 30% risk of
transmitting hepatitis B, a 1.8% risk of transmitting
hepatitis C, and a .3% risk of transmitting HIV.
• In 2000, reuse of contaminated
syringes in developing and transitional countries
caused an estimated 21 million hepatitis B infections,
two million hepatitis C infections, and 96,000 HIV
infections. Also see: Trivia: Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study and Trivia: The WHO's "Safe Surgery Saves Lives" Initiative. Discuss This ArticleHave something you'd like to say? Tell us what you think! Read and post comments for this article. Like this article? Read more! Browse our archive of 1,086 articles. Also, see our master index of all MedHunters articles! Find a JobChoose your career: MedHunters is the world's biggest healthcare job board. Our job directory has 17,366 jobs with 2,444 hospitals and other direct employers. We want you to find your next job on MedHunters. Need Help? Call us at 1-888-884-8242, email us at info@medhunters.com or sign up now. Have an article or story for MedHunters? Email us today at submissions@medhunters.com. |
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