Article-at-a-Glance Background Contact with health care workers may be an important means of infection transmission between patients, yet little is known about patterns of patient contact with staff and visitors in hospitals. In a cross-sectional study, the frequency, type, and duration of contacts made by health care workers, other hospital staff, and visitors to patients in acute care settings were documented. Methods Patients were observed in seven units of three academic hospitals, with recording of each occurrence of someone’s entry into the patient’s room. The health care worker’s role, the duration of the visit, and the highest level of patient contact made were noted. Staff were also surveyed to determine their perception of how many patients per hour they come into contact with, how long they spend with patients, and the level of patient contact that occurs. Findings Hourly room entries ranged from 0 to 28 per patient (median, 5.5), and patients received visits from 0 to 18 different persons per hour (median, 3.5). Nurses made the most visits (45%), followed by personal visitors (23%), medical staff (17%), nonclinical staff (7%), and other clinical staff (4%). Visits lasted 1 to 124 minutes (median, 3 minutes for all groups). Persons entering patients’ rooms touched nothing inside the room, only the environment, the patient’s intact skin, or the patient’s blood/body fluids 22%, 33%, 27%, and 18% of the time, respectively. Medical staff estimated visiting an average of 2.8 different patients per hour (range, 0.5–7.0), and nursing staff estimated visiting an average of 4.5 different patients per hour (range, 0.5–18.0). Conclusions Examining patterns of patient contact may improve understanding of transmission dynamics in hospitals. New transmission models should consider the roles of health care workers beyond patients’ assigned nurses and physicians.

BACKGROUND:Identifying patients most at risk for hospital-and community-associated infections is one essential strategy for preventing infections. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether rates of community-and healthcare-associated bloodstream and surgical site infections varied by patient gender in a large cohort after controlling for a wide variety of possible confounders. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: All patients discharged from January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2008 (133,756 adult discharges and 66,592 pediatric discharges) from a 650-bed tertiary care hospital, a 220-bed community hospital, and a 280-bed pediatric acute care hospital within a large, academic medical center in New York, NY. MAIN MEASURES: Data were collected retrospectively from various electronic sources shared by the hospitals and linked using patients' unique medical record numbers. Infections were identified using previously validated computerized algorithms. KEY RESULTS: Odds of community-associated bloodstream infections, healthcare-associated bloodstream infections, and surgical site infections were significantly lower for women than for men after controlling for present-on-admission patient characteristics and events during the hospital stay [odds ratios (95 % confidence intervals) were 0. 85 (0.77-0.93), 0.82 (0.74-0.91), and 0.78 (0.68-0.91), respectively]. Gender differences were greatest for older adolescents (12-17 years) and adults 18-49 years and least for young children (<12 years) and older adults (≥70 years). CONCLUSIONS: In this cohort, men were at higher risk for bloodstream and surgical site infections, possibly due to differences in propensity for skin colonization or other anatomical differences.