1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
Infection Control: Iinterviews with Mike, a patient who nearly died of hospital-acquired MRSA, and Robert Muder, MD, Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Chief of the Infectious Disease Section at the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System. Created by Teresa Graedon and Joe Graedon (co-hosts), Lyn Siegel (producer), Dave Graedon (editor) and Peter Bombar (technical production supervisor)
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
First aired May 8, 2010; The file is of the subsequent podcast released May 10, 2010.
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
More than 100,000 people die each year from healthcare-acquired infections. Appropriate infection control procedures could cut that number dramatically. We speak with a MRSA survivor who contracted the infection during his work as a contractor renovating a hospital, and with a leader in infection control who has devised ways to prevent this tragedy. Dr. Muder's work at the Pittsburgh VA Hospital has been a model for infection control.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
We reviewed many medical publications on healthcare-acquired infections.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
We interviewed two other infection-control specialists before Dr. Muder, and used those interviews as background. Dr. Muder was the most articulate. We were fortunate that Mike is a friend of our engineer, so we were able to contact him and make arrangements to interview him in the studio.
6. Results (if any).
No results that we know of, other than comments from listeners.
7. Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
A nurse in South Carolina requested copies of the show to help in his hospital's revamping of its infection-control procedures.
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Having the patient's voice made this story more compelling. We also looked hard for an infection-control specialist who was articulate and enthusiastic, knowledgable but not too technical.