MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- Nashville based Hospital Corporation of America had a central role in a new medical study that the Centers for Disease Control says could save “tens of thousands of lives."
The CDC says about 100,000 Americans die each year from infections they aquire during hospital stays. HCA, Harvard, the University of California and the CDC partnered to conduct a multi-year study to find ways to reduce hospital infection rates.
The research was carried out exclusively in 43 HCA hospitals in 16 states and involved about 75,000 patients.
The CDC’s Director, Dr. Tom Frieden, says the solution that seemed to work the best was also one of the simplest.
“If hospitals do just two things differently: First, wash patients with different soap, and second use an antibiotic ointment, they can cut deadly infections by MRSA and other dangerous germs by nearly half.”
The study is being reported in the latest edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.
HCA says it has already implemented the new infection prevention measures in its Intensive Care Units nationwide.