Aspirational goals

There's a paper in the February issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology by a group of investigators at the University of Pennsylvania. They set out to perform a systematic review of the literature to determine the proportion of healthcare associated infections that are reasonably preventable. Their determination was that 65-70% of central line associated bloodstream infections and catheter-associated urinary tract infections were reasonably preventable, and that 55% of ventilator-associated pneumonia cases and surgical site infections were reasonably preventable. Quick, someone call APIC--they're still targeting zero! I know, I know: zero is an aspirational goal. And I'm still aspiring to be a professional football player.

Addendum, 1/23, 9:55 AM:  I just ran across this article published yesterday in a California newspaper. Now here's a piece that's apropos, and one that tries to tell the other side of the story.