According to the Centers for Disease Control, an estimated 2 million patients get a hospital-related infection every year and 90,000 die from their infection. With only only 40 percent of doctors reportedly washing their hands after patient contact, it is evident that hand hygiene needs to be more of a priority in hospitals.

The Society of Camera Operators (SOC) will make a documentary and two Public Service Announcements about the scientific achievements and service to the community of The Vision Center at Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles.

While hospital buildings are often smoke-free, a new study finds that by February 2008, 45 percent of US hospitals had adopted "smoke-free campus" policies, meaning that all the property owned or leased by the hospital, both indoors and outdoors, was smoke-free and there were no designated smoking areas on those properties.

The HealthGrades Fourth Annual Bariatric Surgery Trends in American Hospitals Study released today identifies 88 hospitals as "best" performers (five-star rated), with mortality rates, complication rates and patient lengths of stay that are dramatically lower than poorly rated hospitals.

When hospitalists use discharge communication software, patients and the outpatient doctors who carry out the care have better perceptions of the quality of the discharge process, according to new research published in the August issue of the Journal of Hospital Medicine.

US News and World Rates Johns Hopkins and Mayo Clinic as the top two hospitals in the nation. Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center ranks as one of the top three American hospitals — and the best hospital in the western United States for the 20th consecutive year — according to a U.S. News & World Report survey that reviewed patient-outcomes data, reputation among physicians and other care-related factors.

Many UK hospitals were granted foundation status despite providing substandard care and despite the regulators being aware of this.

For select patients, hospital at home treatment produces similar outcomes to inpatient care at similar or lower costs, found a study by researchers from the United Kingdom and Italy to be published in CMAJ www.cmaj.ca/press/pg175.pdf.

Despite increased emphasis on patient safety, little progress has been made in making hospitals safer, says Johns Hopkins critical care specialist Peter Pronovost, M.D., Ph.D., in an article in the Dec. 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Now we know how the National Enquirer was getting the scoop on celebrity medical records. A former employee at UCLA Medical Center pleaded guilty Monday to selling information from the medical records of entertainers and other high-profile patients.

The first stage of the U.S. Department of Defense-funded clinical trials exploring the role of hospital touch surfaces in the transmission of infectious pathogens has been completed and the researchers reported their findings in a poster session at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, October 28.

Patients expect the most up-to-date equipment and technology at hospitals, regardless of the institution's size or budget. Providing that technology, however, can be difficult for small, rural hospitals that often lack the budget and staffing to make it possible.