The head of the regional health insurance company “Wiener Gebietskrankenkasse” (WGKK), Ingrid Reischl, recently requested more primary health care centres (currently exists only one), which should relieve hospitals. One of the many advantages of the centres would be the lower risk to get infected with dangerous germs.
Mrs. Reischl, until the end of 2016 one percent of the Austrian population shall be treated in primary health care centres (PHC-s). This could relieve hospital outpatient departments. In an interview about the importance of the PHC-s you recently mentioned that a hospital stay “is almost dangerous” because of nosocomial germs. How could more primary-care centres have a supporting effect?
To describe the inpatient hospital stay as almost dangerous – compared to a stay in a primary health care centre (PHC) – is justified as the rate of hospital acquired infections in Austria is on average 6.2 percent. This means that out of 100 patients 6.2 receive a nosocomial infection during a hospital stay.
What is the reason therefore?
The reason for this is clear: Due to an extended stay in a hospital the risk of coming into contact with hospital germs naturally increases. And there is also the danger that patients get infected by germs of patients in high risk areas. Due to the greater number of diagnostic and therapeutic measures in hospitals (infusions, angiological interventions, operations, etc.) the risk to get an infection is – as compared to a PHC – considerably higher.
