For the first time since the pandemic, progress is being made in decreasing healthcare-associated infections at acute care hospitals, according to a new CDC report.
Between 2021 and 2022, adverse events fell the most across the following three areas: Ventilator-associated events went down by 19%, hospital-onset methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections fell 16% and catheter-associated urinary tract infections fell by 12%.
Progress was also made in the decrease of central line-associated blood infections, which declined by 9%, and hospital-onset Clostridioides difficile, which fell 3%, according to the report, which was released in November.
"Under the leadership of healthcare epidemiologists and infection preventionists, acute care facilities have made substantial progress in shifting attention that was understandably focused on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic back to broader infection prevention initiatives that protect our patients from a wide range of infections," Deborah Yokoe, MD, president of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, said in a statement shared with Becker's.