MRSA Notes

My friends at RID are featured in the Spring issue of Ms. magazine. Here is an exerpt:

Hospital-acquired infections add an estimated $30.5 billion to the nation’s annual health-care tab in hospital costs alone…’These infections are often transmitted by touch,’ McCaughey said. ‘RID has shown how deadly poor housekeeping can be in hospitals.’ ”

”McCaughey and her team of germ-fighting volunteers conduct seminars in hospitals, which usually offer the invitation only after she illustrates the financial ramifications of the crisis. ‘In order to get through the front door I have to emphasize the cost to them,’ she says. ”

” Dr. Edward Chapnick, director of the infectious diseases division at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, is pleased McCaughey brought her germ-fighting message to his institution. ‘There are regulatory agencies that are very interested in infection control. But the key difference with RID is that it doesn’t have a punishment component. When state regulators come in they can punish hospitals. When RID comes in, they’re here to help.’ “

Read the full article in the magazine, available at newsstands, or online right here.

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