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Hospital infections: Tips for reducing your risk
Although most of your risk of infection after surgery lies in the hands of your doctor and hospital, there are steps you can take to avoid hospital infections.
By Mayo Clinic staffHaving surgery can be stressful. One of the last things you want to worry about is getting an infection as a result of that surgery or from being in the hospital. If you follow the news, chances are you've heard about problems with hospital infections. In the United States, an estimated 1.7 million infections are associated with health care and are a factor in 99,000 deaths each year.
There are laws and guidelines to help prevent hospital infections. But you can also take steps to reduce your risk of infection while you're in the hospital. The best thing you can do is to choose an accredited hospital you trust — and when you're having surgery, a board-certified surgeon you trust. Follow these steps to help reduce your chance of hospital infections.
If you're having surgery, choose your surgeon carefully
If you're having a planned surgery, ask about your doctor's rate of infection for the procedure you're having. It's not always possible to accurately compare one surgeon's infection rates against another's. Certain people are more prone to infection, so if a surgeon sees mostly people at higher risk of infection, this may affect that surgeon's infection rates. Your personal risk factors for infection and the type of procedure you're having are important in evaluating infection rates. For example, you may be at greater risk of infection if you're obese, have diabetes, use steroids or have certain types of surgery such as a gastric bypass procedure.
Help your doctors, medical staff and visitors to remember to clean their hands
All doctors and medical staff should wash their hands with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer before treating you. This is important even if they use gloves. Hands should be sanitized before putting on new gloves, and gloves should be discarded after a single use. Hand sanitizer dispensers may be mounted on your hospital room wall just inside or just outside the door. If you don't see staff washing or sanitizing their hands, ask if they have and request that they do so. This goes for visitors, too.
Anyone coughing should wear a mask or stay more than 6 feet away from you
Anyone who is coughing should wear a mask or be more than six feet away from you to reduce the likelihood of transmitting viruses by air. Medical staff, visitors and other patients who are coughing should all be wearing masks. Family and friends should postpone their visits when they have a viral infection.
Watch for proper catheter use, and ask about your options
Catheters are long, thin, flexible plastic tubes inserted into your body to deliver or remove fluids. Because they break the skin barrier or enter through a body opening, they can allow infections to enter your body. Catheters that are coated with antibiotics, antiseptics or chlorhexidine-silver sulfadiazine reduce the risk of infection during prolonged use. Ask if those are appropriate for you.
When inserting a short-term venous catheter in the hand or forearm, health care workers should cleanse their hands with soap or hand sanitizer, wear gloves and use an antiseptic on your skin where the catheter will enter. Catheters in a vein in your hand or arm should be replaced every three to four days to reduce risk of infection. This isn't necessary for central venous catheters.
If you're receiving a central venous catheter — which is placed in a large vein in your neck, chest or groin to end up in a large vein in your chest or heart — health care workers should also wear masks and gowns and use a sterile drape. This is because you are at greater risk of infection with this type of catheter than with the type that is inserted into a vein in your hand or arm.
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