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By Sally Crocker

Hospitals with mostly private patient rooms experience a lower risk for central-line patient infections, according to a study by a researcher at the UNTHSC School of Public Health.

Liam O’Neill, Associate Professor of Health Management and Policy, and a student cohort studied 1.2 million patients treated in 292 Texas hospitals in 2013.

“The findings showed that regardless of whether patients were assigned to a private room,” Dr. O’Neill said, “those who were cared for at hospitals that offered a higher percentage of private rooms overall measured lower in hospital-acquired infections.

“This supports using the ‘percentage of private rooms’ ratio as a structural measure of hospital quality.”

A central-line infection is one acquired through tubes or catheters used for testing or to carry nutrients or medicine through the bloodstream.

Dr. O’Neill recently presented this data at the Service System Engineering Conference at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences’ School of Economics and Management in Beijing.

He also recently shared the findings at the AcademyHealth Conference in Boston, a national organization for health services and policy research professionals.

SPH Health Management and Policy doctoral student Sae-Hwan Park was a partner in the study.

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