The Centers for Disease Control estimates one out of every twenty patients winds up with an infection when they get treated in a hospital. Those infections can be serious and even fatal. For the first time, North Carolina has published hospital-acquired infection rates for most of the acute-care hospitals in the state.
The idea behind publishing these rates is that infections are preventable. A patient shouldn’t get an infection from undergoing surgery or having an IV treatment, if the proper precautions are taken.
