June 20, 2022 – Who could doubt the devotion of front-line caregivers, who worked tirelessly during the pandemic under extremely difficult circumstances? But should the exigencies of COVID-19 necessarily have led to a decline in patient safety? Some industry experts have raised the question.
Patient safety had been on an upward trajectory in the five years preceding the pandemic. During that period, central-line–associated bloodstream infections in U.S. hospitals had decreased by 31%. But that trend was almost totally reversed by a 28% increase in the second quarter of 2020 (as compared with the second quarter of 2019). Catheter-associated urinary tract infections, ventilator-associated events, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia increased as well.