Hospitals lost significant progress in reducing healthcare-associated infections amid the pandemic, but many organizations are starting to see improvements, according to a LinkedIn poll conducted by Becker's.
In an early December poll, 296 respondents answered the question, "How would you assess your health system's progress in addressing healthcare-associated infections since the start of the pandemic?"
Thirty-seven percent of respondents said their organizations had seen "significant improvement," while another 37% reported "some improvement." Eighteen percent reported "minimal improvement," and 8% said their organizations have seen "no improvement."
In November, the CDC shared data showing rates of five common HAIs fell in acute care hospitals in 2022, marking the first progress seen since the pandemic. The largest improvements were seen for ventilator-associated infections (down 19% from 2021) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections (down 16%).