Alabama’s hospitals, including the three located in Covington County, outperformed most hospitals in the nation in the prevention of healthcare-associated infections.

The Alabama Department of Public Health posted the 2012 annual infection report online Thursday. The report includes data reported by hospitals in 2012, along with a comparison to the data reported in 2011.

The report looked at 2012 data for: catheter-associated urinary tract infections; central-line associated blood stream infections; surgical site infections associated with colon surgeries; and surgical site infections associated with abdominal hysterectomies.

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections:

• Andalusia Regional Hospital (ARH) reported no catheter-associated urinary tract infections in 960 catheter days in 2012.

• Mizell Memorial Hospital reported 1 catheter-associated urinary tract infections in 948 catheter days in 2012.

• Florala Memorial Hospital reported no catheter-associated urinary tract infections in 106 catheter days in 2012.

Central line-associated blood stream infections:

• ARH reported no central line-associated blood stream infections in 178 central line days.

• Mizell reported no central line-associated blood stream infections in 25 central line days,

Surgical site infection for colon surgeries

• ARH reported only 1 surgical site infection for the 21 colon surgeries performed in 2012.

• Mizell reported no surgical site infections for the 21 colon surgeries performed in 2012.

Surgical site infections in abdominal hysterectomies:

• ARH reported no surgical site infections in the 10 abdominal hysterectomies performed.

• Mizell reported no surgical site infections in the four abdominal hysterectomies performed.

In each category measured, the rates were similar to national performance rates in 2011 and 2012.

Only three hospitals statewide performed worse than the national performance in a single category. Thomas Hospital (11 in 2,241 catheter days) and the University of South Alabama Medical Center (13 in 2,825 catheter days) performed worse in catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and Shoals Hospital (6 in 26) performed worse in surgical site infections for colon surgeries.

“Our hospitals performed better than the nation in all four categories being reported,” said Dr. Donald Williamson, state health officer. “In last year’s report, they were better in three of the four categories, which include catheter-associated urinary tract infections, central line-associated bloodstream infections and two types of surgical site infections. Not only do I want to congratulate hospitals, but I’d like to thank the members of the Alabama Healthcare Data Advisory Council and the ADPH staff who have worked very hard to ensure accurate reporting and to make the information as easy as possible to understand.”

The hospital-specific information may be found at www.adph.org. Additional information on infection prevention can be accessed at www.jointhehealthjourney.com.