By Healthcare Facilities Today

Whose responsibility is hospital safety? Preventing infection is not a simple task. Protecting patients requires hospitals to follow specific protocols. But the job can't be the hospital's alone and advise patients and their families to be vigilant, according to an Atlanta Journal Constitution article posted on the Star Tribune website. 

Comprehensive infection control is more goal than fact at most hospitals, according to the article. On hand-washing alone, for example, health care workers comply only about half the time, studies have shown. And one in 20 patients will acquire an infection while in the hospital.

“Many people, including myself, would say there are dangerous things that can happen in hospitals and there are mistakes — that’s where we are right now in American health care,” said Dr. Bob Wise, an expert on health care quality at the Joint Commission, which accredits and certifies more than 20,000 health care organizations and programs nationwide.

Speaking up on cleanliness may not an easy thing to do, but experts advise patients and their families to be vigilant.

Read the article.