Surgical Infection Statistics
Surgical site infections are the #1 healthcare associated infection in the United States. It is estimated that over 157,000 SSI’s occur each year. Below is a bar chart from a study that included over 11,000 patients from hospitals in 10 different states. The number one HAI? Surgical site infections (tied with Pneumonia). The top 10 are listed below.
What is the SSI rate?
Recent data as mentioned from the 2014 paper above says that 4% of patients who undergo inpatient surgery in the United States has a postoperative SSI.
Annual Deaths as the result of Medical Mistakes
440,000 each year
A Journal of Patient Safety study concluded that as many as 440,000 people die each year from preventable medical errors in hospitals. Other studies have said 200,000. Either way, when hundreds of thousands of people are dying in American hospitals (or any country) that is far too many deaths that could have been prevented.
The Financial Impact of Medical Errors
$21,600,000,000 annually
A study by the Journal of Healthcare Finance estimated that medical errors cost $19.5 billion a year in 2008. The figure above is adjusted for inflation in 2015. If you were to count indirect costs like missed days of work and other related costs the total cost of medical errors would near $1 trillion dollars annually.