While infection prevention is top of mind for hospitals, and the fact that the hospital industry has been battling microbes forever is well-known in healthcare, the global Ebola epidemic has thrust infection control into a place where it has rarely been: the public eye.
Major journalistic outlets such as The Atlantic, The Washington Post and NPR have recently run major stories on hospital acquired-infections, prompted to investigate hospital infection control, following the breaches in protocol and problems with personal protective equipment requirements and usage at Texas Health Presbyterian in Dallas, after which two nurses contracted Ebola from deceased patient Thomas Eric Duncan.
Among the practices highlighted include handwashing, catheter and central line insertion, and antibiotic use and surgical site infection prevention. In addition, the general media has placed a focus on some of the most important microbial nuisances in hospitals: C. difficile, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus and other gram-negative pathogens.
In some respects, the panic over Ebola is doing a similar thing for the hospital industry that comedienne Joan Rivers' death did for the ambulatory surgery center industry. While these problems may seem evident to healthcare professionals, the public is often ill-informed of the potential, however small, for adverse outcomes in healthcare.
In response to Joan Rivers' death after cardiac arrest during a routine endoscopy procedure, ASC accreditation organizations have released safety and efficacy data regarding ASC operations and care, attempting to educate the public about ambulatory surgery. It remains to be seen the approach hospitals will take to manage this public-relations problem after the initial concern over Ebola subsides.
More articles on infection control:
Physician tests positive for Ebola in NYC: 5 things to know
Physicians already disapprove of Obama's new 'Ebola czar'
Nebraska Medical Center to release patient treated for Ebola