5/8/2010 - Preventing Infections: How Portland Hospitals Compare

Life-threatening bloodstream infections used to strike as many as six patients a year in the intensive care unit at Portland's Adventist Medical Center. Infection rates that high or even higher are common in ICUs across the country, killing an estimated 30,000 people a year in the U.S. Until recently, some experts doubted whether caregivers could do much to reduce the risk in critically ill patients with weakened immunity. But in 2006, Adventist tried a new strategy.