Email This Article 
Print This Article
In a new study published in the June 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, a research team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discovered widespread lapses in the infection control procedures at 68 ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) in Maryland, North Carolina, and Oklahoma. The centers were surveyed between June and October of 2008.
“67.6% of the centers had at least one infection control lapse.”
As background, the authors note that the use of ASCs has increased dramatically. Between 2001 and 2008, the number of ASCs certified by Medicaid has more than doubled, with the current number exceeding 5,000. In 2007 more than 6 million procedures were performed in these centers nationally.
Findings included the following:
- 46 of the 68 centers had at least one infection control lapse (67.6%)
- 12 ASCs were found to have at least 3 infection control deficiencies (17.6%)
- the most common findings were reuse of single-dose medication vials (28.1%), improper equipment reprocessing (28.4%), and mishandling blood glucose monitoring equipment (46.3%)
The research team speculated that misuse of the single-dose vials was a cost-saving measure, whereby “facilities have purchased single-dose medications in packaging larger than that required for single-patient use and then used the contents for multiple patients.”
In an accompanying editorial, Philip Barie, M.D. from New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weil Cornell Medical Center calculates that an extrapolation of the study’s findings reveals that “several million U.S. patients may be at risk for infections in ASCs.”
Source: Infection Control Assessment of Ambulatory Surgical Centers, Journal of the American Medical Association, 2010;303(22):2273-2279.
