Healthcare-Associated Infections

Reducing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) decreases avoidable morbidity and mortality and is a significant step toward promoting safety. The importance of improving safety was underscored by the 1999 Institute of Medicine’s report To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. This report found that an estimated 98,000 hospitalized patients die from medical errors in the United States each year suggesting that our hospitals are not sufficiently safe. Since a proximate cause of mortality for many of these deaths is avoidable healthcare-acquired infections, the reduction of these infections with their complications is a means to enhance safety. Indeed, this has been adopted as a goal by leading healthcare organizations in the United States and internationally.