Medical City Fort Worth, North Hills participate in study to prevent hospital infections

Medical City Fort Worth and Medical City North Hills were among 53 hospitals that participated in a nearly two-year study aimed at preventing hospital infections in patients through different techniques.

The study conducted by HCA Healthcare, parent company of Medical City Healthcare, resulted in new processes that were put in place in all 14 Medical City Healthcare hospitals. Medical City Las Colinas and Medical City Plano also participated in the study.

Results of the 21-month study of an infection control technique that reduced bloodstream infections in some hospital patients were published in latest issue of The Lancet medical journal.

More than 330,000 hospital patients participated in the study, known as the ABATE (active bath to eliminate infection) Trial. Researcher analyzed whether the participants, all non-ICU patients, developed fewer infections through daily bathing with a type of antiseptic soap than with ordinary soap and water.

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Adding a type of nasal antibiotic for patients with a certain strain of staph infection also proved beneficial along with bathing with antiseptic soap to reduce hospital-acquired bacterial infections.

A 31 percent drop in bloodstream infections and a nearly 40 percent decrease in antibiotic resistant organism development were reported in the study.

“This reflects HCA Healthcare’s commitment to be a true learning healthcare system,” said Jonathan B. Perlin, HCA Healthcare’s president, clinical services and chief medical officer as well as an author of the study.

“We use the knowledge we capture from delivering care to millions of patients a year for continuous improvement and innovation, not only to fuel our own quality improvement efforts but also to solve vexing societal challenges such as infection prevention,” Perlin said.

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Eliminating infections resulting from hospital stays and healthcare is a top priority for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. About one in 31 hospital patients develops at least one infection related to healthcare, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.