# Doctor, Could You Wash Your Hands....



## Jane (Jan 25, 2008)

Dr. Lister...they didn't listen...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22827499

From the article:

_At best, hospital staffers wash adequately about half the time, repeated studies show. And some hospitals post hand hygiene rates as low as 20 percent when they start tracking the problem, said Maryanne McGuckin, a former University of Pennsylvania public health researcher who has spent her career trying to boost hand hygiene in hospitals and other health-care settings. _


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## Just_Jen (Jan 26, 2008)

that's rather scary..no wonder britain has been struck with the damn vomitting bug lately


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## IrishBard (Jan 26, 2008)

i am slightly worried, i'm got a friend who is going in for an op.


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## love dubh (Jan 28, 2008)

Ignaz Semmelweis is rolling in his grave.


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## AtlantisAK (Jan 29, 2008)

It really is sad and disgusting. But to know that the signs are posted up at rates as low as 20%?!?!? At UPMC in Pittsburgh, we have those things posted up all over the place. On the hand sanitizing stations that are in every patient room, 10 feet apart in the hallway and god only knows where else...

It's sad that I wish I could say I didnt know how bad it could be...but I do work in a hospital and I have seen some pretty foul things. Granted not on the Unit where I work, nessicarily...But on other floors and among Housekeepers (where I worked 4 months before my current job).

I can tell some pretty nasty stories...Not to put the UPMC down or anything, it really is a good hospital system, but there are always some people who don't care about their jobs, themselves or the welfare of others.

Naming no names, there is a fellow who works in Housekeeping on Floor Trash (Note: Trash includes Biohazard materials) over the entire Hospital, who has a rather bad habit of not using the proper protections (gowns, gloves, masks) when entering rooms or collecting trash. He will touch everything and anything after handling bio-bags and not care and continue on with what he was doing. He has been spoken to many times about his but unfortunately has not been fired for not listening. He touched my shoulder once and in all honesty, I told him my mind about it (not nicely) and went straight for the sanitizer.

Also, new patient admits to UPMC (or probably every hospital) are required to get MRSA and other infectious disease tests...But I do remember a case where a patient who had been at the Hospital for 3 weeks was suddenly flagged for MRSA and precautions were finally put up. But for 3 weeks, family, doctors and nurses didnt use the yellow gowns or masks.

In my mind, it just makes me wonder how many other cases may not have been noticed. So this, along with bad sanitary skills and lack of some protocols....things can be nasty.

But again, UPMC isnt a bad hospital all in all. Just the few employees who don't do what they're required to do.



Jane said:


> Dr. Lister...they didn't listen...
> 
> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22827499
> 
> ...


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## SocialbFly (Feb 1, 2008)

you know what drives me nuts?? I know health care workers are baraged with this stuff, but let there be an infection and it is automatically all OUR fault...you have no idea the shit i see from visiting families...it is not ALL our fault...i agree when there can be better ways to keep your hands washed, but anyone ANYONE who knows most nurses can tell you when we have worked a bunch of shifts in a row, cause our hands look like hamburger, sometimes cracked and bleeding from the shitty handcrap they give you to wash with to the shitty handcrap they give you to protect your hands...cause you cant (or shouldnt i should say) bring your own lotion in, it might have germs on it....but i am certain cracked and bleeding hands have no contribution to how WE feel either....

i tell parents, families to wash hands, wash kids hands...they come in, in their filthy clothes straight from work, take off their shoes and sit in the kids bed, walk around in sock feets and dont care if we ask them not to...but let their kid even SNEEZE and it is all the 1 time they didnt see someone wash their hands....

i dont disagree that sometimes when one kids alarm is going off signalling something bad (read life threatening)happening i might not be the best about the alcohol hand gel, but i always try to be 100% compliant, do i know others arent, hell yes, i went to the manager about the Doc head of our unit, when i told him a kid was having issues and i thought he had an infection, he went in and touched the kid and listened to him WITHOUT washing his hands, yeah, thats an issue....

but as usual, it is the working stiff, the nurse alone, who catches shit...can some of these people not share the responsability as well???

can you tell it is a hot subject for me.....grrrrrrr


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## SocialbFly (Feb 1, 2008)

Ohhh i should add, if you are in the hospital NEVER be afraid to ask a nurse, tech, doc...ANYONE to wash their hands or apply hand gel right in front of you, i would not object, i might bitch if you are a bitch about it, but you have the absolute right and should expect nothing less than absolute compliance with this...don't ever think i dont agree, cause i do....i have been asked before, and i dont even balk, i put more on, their ease is ALWAYS more important...


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## Miss Vickie (Feb 1, 2008)

SocialbFly said:


> you know what drives me nuts?? I know health care workers are baraged with this stuff, but let there be an infection and it is automatically all OUR fault...you have no idea the shit i see from visiting families...it is not ALL our fault...i agree when there can be better ways to keep your hands washed, but anyone ANYONE who knows most nurses can tell you when we have worked a bunch of shifts in a row, cause our hands look like hamburger, sometimes cracked and bleeding from the shitty handcrap they give you to wash with to the shitty handcrap they give you to protect your hands...cause you cant (or shouldnt i should say) bring your own lotion in, it might have germs on it....but i am certain cracked and bleeding hands have no contribution to how WE feel either....
> 
> i tell parents, families to wash hands, wash kids hands...they come in, in their filthy clothes straight from work, take off their shoes and sit in the kids bed, walk around in sock feets and dont care if we ask them not to...but let their kid even SNEEZE and it is all the 1 time they didnt see someone wash their hands....
> 
> ...



Sing it, Sister. And may I add how it pisses me off when a patient is on MRSA precautions with an open lesion (which are *contact* precautions -- you, me, everyone is supposed to gown and glove up BEFORE entering the room) and the family's running around the room, _without gown and gloves_, then leaving the room, going to the kitchen, g_rabbing juice and stuff from the fridge, ALL WITHOUT WASHING THEIR HANDS_!!!!!!! :doh::doh::doh: I seriously just wanna smack 'em upside the head. I send them to a public sink to at least wash their hands but I get dirty looks (and have had my boss told that I treated the family like they were lepers in one case). Yeah, whatever. Thank me when you don't have a tennis ball sized lesion removed from your ass, mmmkay?



SocialbFly said:


> Ohhh i should add, if you are in the hospital NEVER be afraid to ask a nurse, tech, doc...ANYONE to wash their hands or apply hand gel right in front of you, i would not object, i might bitch if you are a bitch about it, but you have the absolute right and should expect nothing less than absolute compliance with this...don't ever think i dont agree, cause i do....i have been asked before, and i dont even balk, i put more on, their ease is ALWAYS more important...



This is so true. Our hand gel containers are outside the door so my routine is squirt outside, then rub my hands as I walk into the room. I could see how it might not look like I washed my hands but no one has ever asked. But if someone did I'd absolutely put more gel on.

And yeah, my hands look like crap, too.


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## Jane (Feb 1, 2008)

Nurses whose hands don't look like chapped messes worry me.

And, I don't think nurses are the problem that doctors, respiratory therapists (where my friend got MRSA), etc. are. I believe you are much more aware of the necessary precautions and follow them.


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## SocialbFly (Feb 1, 2008)

hospitals are fully aware, they hire people to stand in the hallway and observe how many times people use hand gel and how many times they SHOULD have used it...the handwashing police are everywhere, now if they would be better about educating the public 


(shout out to you too MsVickie, i Luvs ya!!)


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## Butterbelly (Feb 1, 2008)

MRSA has started to become an epidemic around these parts. I work for a non-profit organization who cares for individuals with disabilities, and most of the individuals are medical fragile. Every single time one of our residents is hospitalized, they come back with MRSA....EVERY TIME. 

Having worked in a hospital laboratory for years in the Microbiology Department, I'm well aware of how serious MRSA can be. Handwashing is THE most important thing that healthcare workers and hospital visitors can do...not only to protect the patient, but to protect themselves as well. I used to get onto my employees in the laboratory about not wearing gloves when handling specimens, having patient contact, or cleaning the countertops in the lab. In fact, I made a rule in my department that if I caught anyone not wearing gloves while working on a specimen, having patient contact, or cleaning, I would write them up on the spot. This policy was fully enforced and eventually implemented in every department in the hospital. Why it wasn't to begin with, I'll never know...but we did see a considerable decrease in the number of MRSA cases.


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## AtlantisAK (Feb 1, 2008)

Butterbelly said:


> MRSA has started to become an epidemic around these parts. I work for a non-profit organization who cares for individuals with disabilities, and most of the individuals are medical fragile. Every single time one of our residents is hospitalized, they come back with MRSA....EVERY TIME.



I believe it may become an epidemic in my area too, which I am afraid of. It is disgusting about how people don't follow precautions and even common sense. All hospital employees, even those not in direct patient care, are required to get training to learn about how to be sanitary and safe...And with all of that knowledge, still, people indeed don't follow the rules.

Patients from a direct admit (meaning not a transfer from another part of the hospital) are supposed to get a routine MRSA test as soon as they arrive. But I've noticed that only half, maybe less, are getting those tests. 

I've seen a few long term patients who've been around a few weeks and they finally get the precaution signs placed up. After all those people and doctors have gone in and out of the room without safety measures...Even then, some don't follow the rules. 

I never could understand why anyone would willingly or even carelessly do stuff like that. What's sadder too is that I come from a farm and you'd think I would know less about sanitization, safety and germs.


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## Admiral_Snackbar (Feb 1, 2008)

love dubh said:


> Ignaz Semmelweis is rolling in his grave.


*You must spread some reputation around before giving it to love dubh again.
*
DAMMIT! You're reading my mind, woman/womyn/female/lady/gal/goddess!


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## Jane (Feb 2, 2008)

Admiral_Snackbar said:


> *You must spread some reputation around before giving it to love dubh again.
> *
> DAMMIT! You're reading my mind, woman/womyn/female/lady/gal/goddess!



Got her, and she is exactly right.


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## Admiral_Snackbar (Feb 2, 2008)

Jane said:


> Got her, and she is exactly right.


Thankee-sai :bow:


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