One of the most vexing problems of healthcare is hospital acquired infections (HAIs). When a patient is admitted to the hospital, the entire focus should be around treatment and recovery. Yet every year people are harmed and often die from HAIs. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1.7 million people contract HAIs, and 99,000 patients die from HAIs annually in the US. However, the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths believes that HAIs are underreported and that the reality is actually several times that number, leading to a misrepresentation of the size and cost of this problem.  Although academics may argue over the exact number health professionals agree— even one death is too many. 

A growing and expensive problem
One of the fastest growing HAIs is MRSA or "Mersah," which stands for methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a superbug that isn't treatable with commonly used antibiotics.  In 1993 there were fewer than 2,000 MRSA infections in U.S. hospitals. In 2007, the largest ever survey of hospitals in the U.S. conducted by the Association of Professionals in Infection Control and published in the American Journal of Infection Control, found  that 2.4% of patients that had MRSA infections had contracted it in the hospital. That's 880,000 patients.

Additionally, the cost associated with HAIs is immense.  On average, a patient who obtains an infection while in the hospital costs an additional $15,000. In total, HAIs cost the US and UK healthcare systems combined nearly $8.4 billion annually. That estimate also likely doesn't reflect the full financial impact. You can read more on the financials related to HAIs in this Philips white paper.

Certainly, hospitals abhor HAIs, but detesting their existence has done little to eliminate the problem.  Some argue that good intentsions do not solve systemic problems and in order to prompt decisive direct action, the funding for treating HAIs needs to be cut off. This rationale prompted the U.S. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to stop reimbursing hospitals for cost related to treating patients who are diagnosed with a HAI. 

Fighting HAIs
Countless campaigns and resources are available to help hospitals promote better hand hygiene, such as those from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and single use devices are also helping.  But these solutions have little impact on the estimated 20% of HAIs that are transmitted through the air. 

Philips has helped to pioneer a technological solution, UV purification lamps, that have the power to disinfect air and surfaces, protecting against airborne infections, viruses, and other micro organisms.  The DNA structure of these unwanted invaders is destroyed in such a way that the cells can no longer multiply, minimizing the risk of infection. UV light-based technologies are already being used to make hospitals healthier and safer. Just one more example of how light can positively impact our health and well-being.

Kip