Report: Stanford's infection rate worst among 7 Bay Area hospitals
STANFORD, Calif. (KGO) -- Hospital workers at Stanford have released a report showing patient infections are a big problem.
The report claims Stanford's infection rate is the worst among seven Bay Area teaching hospitals.
The union president said the infection rate at Stanford isn't just bad by comparison to other Bay Area hospitals, it's actually among the lowest 25 percent of all hospitals across the United States.
Anish Singh sits with patients at Stanford University Medical Center all day long. "I'm here today because I care about the patient's safety," he said.
Singh is part of the workers' union that says Stanford has a higher infection rate than seven other Bay Area teaching hospitals.
"Stanford is supposed to be a world renowned hospital. It's just shocking," Stanford unit secretary Linda Cornell said.
Cornell attributes the high infection rate to under staffing and a lack of training for housekeepers. "On the day-to-day basis it seems like a factory mentality, patients are pushed in and pushed out, everybody is rush, rush, rush, we're short staffed. Housekeepers aren't given enough time to clean rooms," Cornell said.
According to the union, Stanford scored far worse than the national benchmark for patients acquiring a highly contagious infection called C. diff.
The rate was so high that the federal government reduced medicare payments to Stanford two of the last five years.
Stanford University Medical Center says the union provided information that is outdated and a bargaining tactic as it negotiates a new contract. "The data that is being presented by SEIU is in fact not current and does misrepresent the current situation here at Stanford health care," Hebert said.
Stanford released a statement saying: "Their infection rates have dramatically improved, especially in 2017, and that they are on pace to do better than the industry bench mark.
So, they said what the union has been bringing to light at the present time is no longer accurate.
