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Epidemiology Finds the Solution

John E. McGowan, Jr, MD

JAMA. 1991;265(8):1021-1022.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

The past few years have seen an expansion of the risks with which hospitals must deal.¹ Nosocomial infection has been a long-term concern that can adversely affect patient welfare and the financial well-being, accreditation, licensure, and reputation of a hospital.² Another threat is inappropriate, and in some cases criminal, acts by employees.³ Sometimes these acts result from substance abuse by physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other hospital workers.⁴ It is not clear whether such episodes are occurring more frequently today or just being recognized more often.

Occasionally, both these plagues attack simultaneously. For example, the article in this issue of THE JOURNAL by Maki and colleagues⁵ reports an adverse outcome for hospitalized patients (hospital-acquired bacteremia due to Pseudomonas pickettii) that apparently resulted from an illegal employee action (stealing narcotic solutions used in the operating room). The episode in question occurred more than 5 years ago, and . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine and Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta, Ga.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Clinical Laboratories (Box 26248), Grady Memorial Hospital, 80 Butler St, Atlanta, GA 30335-3801 (Dr McGowan)

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