Hospital Isolation for Patients with Infectious Diseases?

Mounting evidence shows that isolation precautions, which are intended to prevent spread of infectious disease, have many untoward consequences for patients, including less physical contact from healthcare providers, excess falls, pressure ulcers, psychological isolation, and lower patient satisfaction.

To examine the effect of isolation precautions, researchers retrospectively analyzed the administrative database of hospitalized medical patients at three academic medical centers in Toronto. A total of 1502 patients who received respiratory droplet precautions and 737 patients who received contact precautions for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were propensity-matched (on comorbidities, demographics, and time spent in the …