Healthcare-Associated Infections
Also see Preventing Healthcare Associated Infections
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are infections acquired in healthcare facilities, such as hospitals, long-term care facilities and outpatient facilities like dialysis and ambulatory surgical centers.
HAIs can be particularly devastating to people who are already very sick and/or immunocompromised. These types of infections can be resistant to antibiotics, can be very difficult to treat, and can lead to death.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has made HAIs a priority area of improvement through their Healthy People 2020 goals. Nationally, HAIs are decreasing, but have not yet reached the 2020 goals.
It is critical to also monitor these trends at a state and local level to better understand problem areas and develop interventions.
PA Department of Health HAI Reports
The Pennsylvania Department of Health publishes a statewide healthcare-associated infection report on an annual basis.
The report provides summary statistics for a variety of HAIs including central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and surgical site infections.
The report also provides facility-specific statistics for these infection types for all Pennsylvania acute care hospitals including all Allegheny County acute care hospitals. Finally, the report also includes summary and facility-specific employee influenza vaccination rates.
PA Dept. of Health Links
Important HAI Resources