Little things make a big difference. Posted
by mitcka at 04/12/05 06:34 PM
Hospitals have a long way to go in ensuring that their patients' safety. Did you know that infectious bacteria have been found in high numbers on physician's ties and cell phones? The spread of infections--many of them deadly--from one patient to another can be controlled with careful attention to hand washing and disinfection. This article is not posted to the web, so let me quote a salient statistic from the National Quality Forum's Consensus Report on Safe Practices for Better Healthcare:
Although handwashing has been shown to be highly effective in preventing the transmission of pathogens within a hospital, studies have repeatedly shown that hand washing compliance rates are generally less than 50 percent.
This health issue is more serious and puts more people in jeopardy than you may think. When you think of high death rates, what comes to mind? Homicides? Car accidents? Well, the fact of the matter is, hospital infections kill more people than homicides and car accidents combined every year! Most hospital infections can be prevented, if the right precautionary measures are taken.
So how do you take precautionary measures? Hospital workers must wash
their hands between patients. Surgeons must wash their hands thoroughly and wear completely sterile gloves, gown, and mask. For a list of five general measures suggested by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, look here.
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Posted by zapgerms at 05/11/05 12:24 PM
Thanks for taking up this cause, which I have done on the Zap*Germs blog and which is really such a simple goal to reach. No big technology, just careful washing of the hands between patients!
BTW, I appreciate your effort to require hospitals to report their infection rates, and provided a link to your site yesterday in this post:
http://zapgerms.blogspot.com/2005/05/us-state-legislatures-focus-on.html
