Reusable but disposable, PATRAN® designed to aid infection control efforts
PATRAN slide sheets aid infection control efforts. As a single-patient use product, PATRAN is disposed of after a specific patient is discharged. As a result, PATRAN prevents cross-contamination between patients.
With reusable devices – whether laundered or wiped down – there are often questions about cleanliness. Is it getting cleaned between patients? If so, who within the healthcare organization is responsible, and how thoroughly are they cleaned?
Given that a number of Healthcare-Associated (also referred to as Hospital-Acquired) Infections pose major health risks to patients, single-patient use/disposable patient handling products can help save patient lives and prevent costly hospital expenditures.
Each day in the U.S., about one in 25 hospital patients has at least one HAI, and each year about 75,000 patients die from such a disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention1 progress report published in 2016. Examples of HAIs include C. difficile and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly called MRSA. These bacteria are multidrug resistant, making them difficult to treat and extending a patient’s hospital stay or putting them at higher risk for death.
When patients acquire diseases during a hospital stay, healthcare facilities don’t receive financial reimbursement for patient care,2 and such incidents get reported, which could lead to poor reputation and penalties.3 In addition, patients who have gotten sicker when they came to the hospital to improve their health likely will not provide high patient satisfaction scores.
The good news is that most HAIs are preventable, and providing clean, disposable equipment is a step toward achieving infection control goals.4 PATRAN single-patient use slide sheets can help in the battle against HAIs.
References
- HAI Data and Statistics. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention web site. https://www.cdc.gov/hai/surveillance/index.html. Updated October 5, 2016. Accessed March 12, 2017.
- What Zero Looks Like: Eliminating Hospital-Acquired Infections. Institute for Healthcare Improvement web site. http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/ImprovementStories/WhatZeroLooksLikeEliminatingHospitalAcquiredInfections.aspx. Accessed March 12, 2017.
- Friedman B. How to Prevent Hospital-Acquired Infections. Prepared Patient Blog on the Center for Advancing Health web page. http://www.cfah.org/2014/how-to-prevent-hospital-acquired-infections. Published July 21, 2014. Accessed March 12, 2017.
- Bush LM. Disposable Items Help Prevent Healthcare-Acquired Infections. Infection Control Today web page. http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/articles/2005/03/disposable-items-help-prevent-healthcare-acquired.aspx. Published March 1, 2005. Accessed March 12, 2017.