The central tenet of medicine is primum non nocere, first do no harm. Compelling and resounding but not sufficiently convincing (to some) when it comes to infection prevention prioritization.All hospitals have infection prevention goals and priorities. After all, preventing hospital acquired infections is primum non nocere on a population level. When coupled with evidence based risk mitigation strategies and an understanding of significant harms, this should be sufficient to drive infection prevention priorities.
Impact on length of stay and patient throughput (as I previously discussed in a blog) is a critical driver for many decision makers in the hospital. Decreasing length of stay and maximizing throughput is the new Holy Grail of hospital administration, disregard this angle at your own peril if you seek to persuade and prioritize infection prevention strategies across your institution.
