On June 31, the New York State Health Department released a report detailing the healthcare-associated infection (HAI) rates of hospitals in New York for 2008. SUNY Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, NY, reported an alarming infection rate in the medical-surgical ICU. According to the report, University had a central line–associated bloodstream infection rate of 8.3 per 1,000 patient days in that particular ICU during the previous year. The state average in New York was 2.3.
The report forced University’s quality team to reevaluate its processes for infection prevention, ¬particularly in the ICU.