Researchers from the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor discovered one in four seniors bring stowaways — multidrug-resistant organisms — on their hands from hospitals to PAC facilities. Additionally, seniors who transfer to nursing homes continue to acquire new superbugs during their stay.
All total, the study included 357 seniors admitted from a hospital to one of several PAC facilities in southeast Michigan.
“We’ve been educating healthcare workers for decades about hand hygiene, and these numbers show it’s time to include patients in their own hand hygiene performance and education,” said lead author Lona Mody, MD, the associate chief for clinical and translational research at the U-M Geriatrics Center and a research scientist at the Ann Arbor VA Geriatrics Research Education and Clinical Center.
The findings were published in a JAMA Internal Medicine research letter.
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Australian hand hygiene campaign proves costly, but effective
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