Hospital Hazards of Staphylococcic Sepsis

The medical profession is dedicated to saving life, which is both dramatic and satisfying. Somehow preventing death is less dramatic and apparently much less rewarding. Nonetheless, the report of Finland and Jones¹from the Boston City Hospital indicated that many lives may be saved in hospitals by controlling staphylococcic infection. They claim not only that major and minor staphylococcic infections are endemic in large hospitals but also that the Staphylococcus is a leading cause of death. We decided to investigate this problem in our hospital. We asked ourselves whether their "ward-round survey" was reliable and what area of the hospital had the most patients affected by sepsis. First Clinical Survey We made a pilot study such as can be done easily in any hospital. During a period of 36 hours we made ward rounds on all the hospital wards. As this was done just before Christmas, 1956, the total