Searcy Hospital Among Nation’s Best At Preventing Infections

Unity Health in Searcy recently was one of nine hospitals in the country singled out by Consumer Reports for its low rates of five infections.

The magazine rated 3,000 hospitals. Unity Health – referred to in the rankings by its former name, White County Medical Center – was the only Arkansas medical facility noted for its low rates.

The magazine is publishing a three-part investigative series describing what it says is a national antibiotic crisis. In its second story in the series, “How Your Hospital Can Make You Sick,” it quoted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics that 648,000 Americans contract hospital infections annually and 75,000 die – more than twice the number that die in auto accidents.

The ratings covered five infections: methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, which kills more than 8,000 patients each year; clostridium difficile, or C. diff, which develops in 290,000 patients and kills at least 27,000; catheter-associated urinary tract infections; central-line associated bloodstream infections; and surgical-site infections.

Unity Health scored well on all five infections on data collected between October 2013 and September 2014.

Dr. Mark White, a Unity Health radiologist and chief of staff, Mary Lou Adams, an infection control and prevention nurse, and Connie Taylor, the hospital’s director of case management, said in an interview that the hospital’s success comes from doing a lot of basic things right, not, as Taylor said, a “magic bullet.”

They said the hospital follows nationally recognized evidence-based guidelines. To prevent deadly C. diff infections, it follows a strict cleaning procedure using a bleach-based cleaner. White said the hospital screens for MRSA infections among pre-op patients and those in intensive care who might be carriers even if they aren’t infected.

Moreover, Adams said staff members make sure that central lines are inserted in the least likely place to cause an infection. The hospital has designated times for dressing changes and site cleanings. Use of urinary catheters is determined by a nurse-driven protocol that emphasizes avoiding them when they aren’t necessary and removing them as soon as possible. Adams credited the housekeeping staff for keeping hospital rooms clean and sanitized.

Meanwhile, staff members are observed by infection control staff to ensure compliance with hand-sanitizing procedures. Hand-sanitizing stations are set up throughout the hospital to remind medical personnel, staff members and visitors of the habit’s importance. Statistics are reported so everyone knows how the hospital is doing.

“We go through a lot of hand sanitizer here, and we make it available to staff, to visitors. If it’s just everywhere, you can’t miss it,” Adams said.

The hospital recently was one of two Arkansas hospitals out of 28 graded that received a safety score of “A” for spring 2015 from the Leapfrog Group, a national organization that ranks hospitals. It received a “B” last fall and a “C” for spring 2014. The other state high scorer for spring 2015 was Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Pine Bluff.