The Safe Patient Project is a Consumers Union campaign focused on eliminating medical harm, improving FDA oversight of prescription drugs and promoting disclosure laws that give information to consumers about health care safety and quality.
NEVER (NorthEast Voices for Error Reduction) is made up of member patient safety and advocacy organizations located throughout the northeast. The mission of NorthEast Voices for Error Reduction (NEVER) is the empowerment of patients and the elimination of healthcare harm by: advocating for patient interests in healthcare delivery; educating the public, the media, elected officials about patient safety, working toward a transparent and accountable healthcare system.
MRSA
Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are mostly preventable but thousands of Americans die every year from them and many more suffer needlessly because hospitals fail to protect patients from being exposed to these dangerous superbugs.
Click here for State Health Care Acquired Infection Reports
Consumers Union Documents
- Quick Steps for Searching Hospital Compare Infection Information
Central Line Bloodstream Infection Information Now Available for Hospitals Nationwide Instructions for Finding Out About Your Hospital: The Department of Health & Human Services is now disclosing for the first time information to compare central line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) in intensive care units at hospitals across the country. Three months of CLABSI information for Continue Reading
- Spreading Germs: Low Rates of Flu Vaccination Among California Healthcare Workers Put Patients at Risk (PDF)
Consumers Union Report shows California Department of Public Health is falling behind on collecting and publishing dangerously low vaccination rates to the public.
- Consumer Reports Health: Many Hospitals Fail To Lower Infection Rates Despite Lifesaving Checklist
New online ratings provide patients with easy access to hospital infection rates, a first for consumers
- Consumers Union “To Err Is Human, To Delay Is Deadly” Webcast
On November 17, 2009, Consumers Union hosted a forum in Washington DC based on the 10-year anniversary of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) 1999 study on medical harm challenging our health system’s progress on preventing medical harm 10 years later. We released a report earlier in the year on this
- CU Summary of State MRSA Laws
Summary of state laws with hospital MRSA prevention requirements.
Consumers Union News Releases
- California Issues Report Detailing Hospital Infection Rates For 2011
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued a number of reports today updating hospital infection rates for hospitals throughout the state during 2011. All California hospitals are required to publicly report patient infection data as a result of a 2008 state law that aims to encourage hospitals to improve efforts to prevent infections.
- HHS Announces National Campaign to Improve Patient Safety
CONSUMERS UNION SAFE PATIENT PROJECT — NEWS RELEASE Please Note: Consumers Union can connect reporters with patients who have suffered from hospital infections and other medical harm. To find out more, contact Michael McCauley at mccami@consumer.org For Immediate Release: Tuesday, April 12, 2011 Contact: Michael McCauley (mccami@consumer.org), 415-902-9537 (cell), 415-431-6747,
- California Issues Reports on Hospital-Acquired Infections
The reports provide a first glimpse at Hospital Infection Rates. Consumers Union press release recommending the state work harder to ensure the data is accurate and provided in a format consumers can easily view and understand.
- Report Finds That Only Half of California Hospital Workers Got Flu Vaccine
Report Finds That Only Half of California Hospital Workers Got Flu Vaccine
- Consumers Union Finds Slow Progress on Patient Safety in California
California Department of Public Health Has Failed to Carry Out Key Requirements of Recent Patient Safety Laws
Blog Posts
- California Releases New Report on Hospital Infection Rates
A report by the California Department of Public Health, makes California a national leader on public reporting of infections.
- Consumer voices to be heard at national hospital infection meeting
Meet the eleven consumer advocates who will be attending a U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)hospital infection meeting this week.
- “Please, don’t infect me”
Hospital infection survivor and “numerator,” Kerry O’Connell describes the emotional and physical impact of hospital infection on patients and calls for more empathy and honesty from our health care providers.
- “It’s not just statistics…it’s somebody’s Mom”
Hospital infections leave a lasting impact on the individuals and families who had to experience them. For Mary Brennan-Taylor, hospital infections took the life of her mother, Alice Brennan, who passed away in 2009 after entering the hospital for pain and swelling in her leg.
- Beware of Scary Superbugs in Your Hospital
It only takes three things for a hospital superbug to infect a patient. Should you be concerned?
News Articles
- AP reports on hospital superbugs and cleaning efforts - advocate Christian Lillis quoted Source: Associated Press (Monday April 29, 2013)
AP reports on hospital superbugs and cleaning efforts. Christian Lillis, member of CU’s Safe Patient Project, is quoted in the article. Christian started the Peggy Lillis Memorial Foundation after the death of his mother from C.diff.
- MRSA Exposure Prompts Courtroom Closing & Sanitizing Source: San Diego 6 (Tuesday April 2, 2013)
MRSA shuts down courtroom
- Drug-resistant staph infections increasing at a slower pace Source: Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (Thursday February 28, 2013)
The growth of MRSA-related hospitalizations was stagnant between 2005 and 2009; Community-associated infections peak in the summer, likely due to seasonal antibiotic overuse.
- GCN radio interview with Michael Bennett, patient safety advocate Source: GCN Live (Monday February 25, 2013)
GCN live interviews Michael Bennett, patient safety advocate in Maryland, about issues relating to MRSA and other hospital infections.
- Study By VA Doctors Sheds Light On MRSA Prevention Source: WRIC (Wednesday February 6, 2013)
New study published in New England Journal of Medicine found that baby wipes containing a chemical called Chlorhexidine reduced MRSA cases by 23 percent and blood infections by 28 percent while patients are in the hospital.
Research and Reports
- A Perspective on the Evidence Regarding Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Surveillance (Free Access) Source: Journal of Patient Safety (Tuesday August 7, 2012)
The manuscript on MRSA Surveillance and the not setting of standards which was published in the Journal of Patient Safety is now FREE ACCESS. This article by Health Watch USA tells part of the story of the behind the USA not setting standards for MRSA Surveillance. “The publication in prominent journals of 2 studies, the STAR*ICU Study and the MRSA-Swiss Study, seems to have had a disproportionate impact on health-care policy, which has stymied the widespread adoption of MRSA active surveillance testing in hospitals.” — Journal of Patient Safety, Aug. 2012.
- CDC: Predicting Risk for Death from MRSA Bacteremia Source: CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases (Monday June 25, 2012)
CDC publishes new study that identifies factors associated with risk of death from MRSA.
- ResistanceMap: Expanded, Updated, and Interactive
ResistanceMap – an online tool for visualizing antibiotic resistance from Extending the Cure – launches a second edition today with more bacteria-antibiotic combinations, U.S.-Canada-Europe comparisons of resistance trends, and lots of opportunities to interact with the data.
- Bedbugs as Vectors for Drug-Resistant Bacteria
CDC: Bedbugs carrying MRSA and/or VRE may have the potential to act as vectors for transmission. Further studies are needed to characterize the association between S. aureus and bedbugs.
- Testimony on Healthcare Acquired Infections and Public Reporting
Presentation by Kevin Kavanagh, MD on Healthcare Acquired Infections and public reporting which was given to the Kentucky Joint Senate and House Committee on Veterans, Millitary Affairs and Public Protection.
Activists
Rep. Adam Goode of Bangor, Maine and 9 other representatives and senators sponsored my bill, now known as Maine LD 1038. A much abbreviated form of my proposal was signed into law by Governor John Baldacci in June 2009. We are now mandated to screen those patients who are at high risk for MRSA when admitted to the hospital. My goal is to help save lives. I only wish I had done it before I lost my father.
Kathy of Bangor, Maine
Antibiotic Resistance
Extending the Cure tracks changes in antibiotic resistance levels across regions of the United States, covering common bacteria-drug combinations. The ResistanceMap tells a story of growing resistance to commonly used antibiotics and identifies regional differences in resistance levels.
To Delay is Deadly
98,000 people die each year needlessly because of preventable medical harm. Efforts to reduce this are few and fragmented. With little transparency and no public reporting (except where hard fought state laws now require it), scarce data does not paint a picture of real progress.
In this report (PDF) we give the country a failing grade on progress on select recommendations we believe necessary to create a health-care system free of preventable medical harm.