Time for a Culture Change?

Health care–associated infections are important, often preventable, causes of poor outcomes and unnecessary costs of medical care.1 To address this public health problem, professional societies, quality-improvement organizations, accrediting bodies, and federal advisory committees and agencies have issued guidelines and recommendations aimed at preventing these infections.2 Many states have legislated specific prevention measures, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services withholds payment for costs associated with certain infections.3 Nonetheless, important gaps exist in our knowledge of the effectiveness of many recommended or mandated prevention methods.Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a poster child for this problem, because of the illness . . .