Two long-term acute care hospitals evaluated how using launderable mattresses and bed deck covers affected the incidence of hospital-onset Clostridium difficile infection in a recent study published in the American Journal of Infection Control.
Here are five things to know about the study and its findings.
1. The two long-term acute care hospitals — one of which had 74 beds, the other 30 — began using launderable mattresses and bed deck covers on their beds starting in May 2013.
2. The covers were changed after every patient and washed in hot water, detergent and chlorine.
3. C. diff infection rates were compared between the 16 months before use of the launderable covers and the 14 months after the covers started being used.
4. At one of the hospitals, the use of bedcovers reduced the rate of C. diff infection by 47.8 percent, controlling for the rate of handwashing compliance and length of stay in days.
5. At the second hospital, the use of bedcovers reduced the rate of C. diff infection by 50 percent, controlling for the rate of handwashing compliance and length of stay in days.
More articles on C. diff:
Fecal transplants mostly successful, but require monitoring to avoid long-term risks
Antibiotic stewardship program reduces C. diff infections in hospitalized kids
Allegheny General enrolls patients in C. diff vaccine study