CDC to improve patient safety

ATLANTA, April 15 (UPI) -- Medical advances provide lifesaving care but often come with a risk of healthcare-acquired conditions such as infections, U.S. officials say.

Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says he has made patient safety a top priority at CDC and the U.S. healthcare system, because healthcare-acquired conditions such as infections, falls, pressure ulcers or bed sores and blood clots pose a significant burden on the healthcare system and patients.

"Americans expect and deserve safe healthcare," Frieden says in a statement. "CDC has an established track record of improving the quality of healthcare delivery. This new initiative will help protect patients and ensure that they live healthier, longer, and more productive lives while reducing healthcare costs."

At any given moment, about one patient in 20 has an infection, picked up while being treated for an illness or injury -- and these infections cost the United States billions of dollars each year and lead to the loss of tens of thousands of lives, Frieden says.

Health departments, the CDC and physicians know how to prevent many healthcare-acquired conditions, but the problem has been to have these protective measures adopted and used consistently in all healthcare facilities, Frieden says.