For nursing home residents, a trip to the emergency room may actually worsen their health rather than improve it. According to the results of a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the rate of new acute respiratory or GI infections within a week of an ER visit among residents of long-term care facilities was 5 percent, compared to just 2 percent in those who stayed at the nursing home. Researchers from McGill University assessed data from 22 nursing homes in Ontario and Quebec between 2006 and 2008, and after adjusting for certain factors, found that the seniors were nearly 4 times more likely to acquire an infection after an ER visit, compared to residents who did not go to the ER.
Once back at their long-term care facilities, however, ER patients can then spread the infection, thus leading to potential outbreaks. An outbreak of this sort could be disastrous — for instance, a previous study found that over the course of one month, an influenza outbreak would kill nearly one in 100 nursing home residents.
Hospital-acquired infections are an important aspect of public health, and as Dr. Betsy McCaughey, chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths (RID), points out, “they could be easily prevented through simple steps. For instance, if health care professionals cleaned patients’ hands and nearby surfaces, they could drastically reduce the spread of infection.” She adds, “In the ER, nursing home patients are especially vulnerable; therefore, we need to emphasize the importance of rigorously adhering to simple sanitary guidelines in order to save lives.”
