Link: Better risk management could cut MRSA infection rates.
The study, led by Paul Fenn, Norwich Union Professor of Insurance Studies in the Nottingham University Business School, involved Professor Alastair Gray from the University of Oxford and Professor Neil Rickman from the University of Surrey. The team looked at data from all NHS hospitals in the UK between 2001 and 2005, including MRSA infection rates, hospital size and mix of cases, bed utilisation rates and risk management levels. They found that the introduction of higher risk management standards, including hand hygiene and infection control measures, reduced the incidence of infection in hospitals by between 11 and 20 per cent after allowing for all other variations in infection rates.
Larger hospitals were found to have higher infection rates, particularly those with higher proportions of patients undergoing surgical or gynaecological treatment. And the “busier” the hospital — the closer it is to full capacity — the higher the incidence of MRSA infection.
Professor Fenn said: “Our research has demonstrated that hospital management has responded to financial incentives by adopting higher risk management standards, and where this happens, patient safety tends to improve.”
