Hygiene and your hospital

by Heather Craven (Subscribe to Heather Craven's posts) Aug 28th 2006 5:00PM

Categories: Money & Work, Places To Go, Health & Safety

The online edition of the London Times reported this week on television's queens of clean, Aggie McKenzie and Kim Woodburn, visited Ealing Hospital, in West London, a unit that had the third worst rate of infection in the UK in 2003. Given that one patient in ten catches an infection in hospital, and that hospital-acquired infections kill about 5,000 people in England every year, the tone of this one-hour special is a little more serious than their usual romps. Though the program over covers only one hospital, what it found was both reassuring and shocking. Microbiologists could not find a trace of the MRSA that blighted Ealing's reputation. Preventive measures introduced since 2003, such as a wash-your- hands campaign and executive team walkabouts, have clearly worked.

However, that didn't mean the hospital was clean. Aggie and Kim found toilet brushes encrusted with feces , containers of bloody dressings left exposed on corridors for hours , and a doctors' lounge that brought a new meaning to mess- room ("It's like a student flat"). One microbiologist found high levels of the bacteria Staphyloccus aureus all over the place, particularly on the bed tables that patients ate from, their lockers and telephones. This bacteria is one of the most common sources of infections in hospitals, and when it enters under the skin it can cause anything from a pimple to potentially fatal blood poisoning or pneumonia. These are the bugs that, when they become resistant to antibiotics, become MRSA. What was genuinely shocking in the program the apparent reluctance of some of the doctors and nurses to address the issue of cleanliness.

Microbiologists believe that by simply using an antimicrobial alcohol hand gel when people enter and leave a ward could cut infection rates by 50% at a stroke. Yet secret cameras placed in the hospital over one weekend revealed that 65 per cent of visitors, 55% of nurses and 93 per cent of doctors did not use the gel. In fact, the main message from the program is the one that health education experts have been pressing for years, but which clearly still hasn't sunk in. It's the really simple things, such as washing your hands, that can help to reduce hospital infection rates.

Do you think similar findings would be found in the U.S.? I don't: a recent study looked at who was most apt to wash their hands in the hospital. You guessed it: physicians were at the bottom of the list. This could be because many use rubber gloves, but it is still not too reassuring if the leader of medical teams don't set an example. What do you think?

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Comments (165)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 9)

ann adams 8-28-2006 @ 5:21PM

I think it's my day for links to ancient history.

http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignace-Philippe_Semmelweis&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dignace%2Bsemmelweiss%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DGGGL,GGGL:2006-11,GGGL:en

This man went insane trying to convince doctors of the same thing. Does nothing ever change?

Ignore the grammar. It's a translation by someone unfamiliar with English pronouns.

sungoddess 8-28-2006 @ 5:48PM

Well I spent the night in the local Third World Hospital last week, and I refused to sit on the toilet seat. I am going to try and get some anti-bacterial wipes so I can wipe the seat when I go into labour and have to be admitted, and get some of the waterless anti-bacterial gel... cause I know these things, and it freaks me out personally.

Christina 8-28-2006 @ 6:28PM

As someone who is studying to become a nurse, it doesn't surprise me, yet I still find it disgusting. I can't understand why a health professional wouldn't want to wash their hands between patients. It's not just about spreading germs between patients - I also don't want to become sick from anything a patient might have!

Some complain because soap is so drying on their hands, but many of these new alcohol gels have aloe and other moisturizers in them, and I like them because they leave my hands feeling even softer.

sasha sumner 8-28-2006 @ 11:22PM

Why don't the hospitals just hire someone specifically to wipe down the door handles, table trays etc. on a regular basis? Use an antimicrobial alcohol based spray! Since it's been proven that people won't learn to clean their own hands, why not pay the small price of a preventative measure rather than the larger price of deaths caused by unneccesary infection.

Judi 8-28-2006 @ 9:33PM

My Mom was terminally ill and we were there every single day with her. Right up until the end. The only people I noticed who washed there hands were the nurses and us. Inever saw a Doctor wash his hands. And believe me I paid attention to everything that went on in that room. I loved my Mom dearly but I never went without washing my hands after touching her. They had a container ouside the room on the wall so it was convenient. So I clearly understand how infections spread. It's truly sad especially with the prices we pay to stay in these Hospitals. It's bad enough to be sick but to end up with something you didn't go in with is a tragedy to say the least.

Judi 8-28-2006 @ 9:32PM

Vicki RN -ICU 8-29-2006 @ 8:16PM

As a critical care nurse, I see phyicians everyday who don't wash their hands or use the alcohol gels. At the hospital where I work, the nurses will chase down the doctors who don't wash up and squirt the gel into their hands for them. It truly is a problem and one that hospitals everywhere are working to correct. My hospital has organized special teams to educate and remind not only other nurses and physicians, but also family members and visitors as well. Too often we see family members or other visitors who come to the hospital with coughs, runny noses, or reeking of cigarette smoke or alcohol. We should all be washing our hands more, but we should all be mindful of the other ways we can make patients even sicker.

Dee 8-29-2006 @ 8:21PM

My local hospital routinely forgives bills for patients who develope in house infections that cause harm. Staff infections and medication mistakes are common enough to warrant a lot of people to beg amublance crews to take them somewhere else or they refuse to be transported altoghter.

sandy gart 8-29-2006 @ 8:20PM

went to YALE HOSPITAL BEST DOCTOR NEVER WASHED HANDS GOT INFECTION NINE MONTHS WITH 3 HOLES IN STOMACHE THEY REFUSED TO CLOSE HAD HIP REPLACED HOSPITAL FOR JOINT DISEASES BEST DOCTOR HEAD OF WHOLW DEPT SENT ME HOME WITH A STAPH INFECTION HE ADMITTED IT HAD TO SEE MY OWN DOCTOR FOR I MONTH TO TRY AND GET RID OF STAPH OPERATING DOCTOR SAID HE THOUGHT IT WOULD GO AWAY BY ITSELF THAT A GREAT DOCTOR HE SHOULD ONLY GET IT AND SUFFER

Laura 8-29-2006 @ 8:24PM

Three of the 4 members of my family had MRSA that required surgery that we contracted from our family doctor's office. They denied it of course! It is spreading like wildfire throughout the US according to the doctor's that treated us in Houston in 2003. If you don't think it could happen here, you're just in denial.

Raquel 9-03-2006 @ 5:14PM

It is unthinkable that the person who is suppose to be keeping you healthy is the same one that can kill you.
It is the most easiest thing in the world to do to wash your hands.

Raquel
Brooklyn, New York

Orchyde 8-29-2006 @ 8:26PM

I was infected with MRSA after having a kidney operation. It was in the actual incision. I survived the infection by taking extremely strong doses of antibiotics that you can take only once in your lifetime. If I ever get the infection again there is nothing they can do. I will always be "MRSA postitive" and whenever I do go to the hospital everyone must take precautions. They must wear hospital gowns, gloves, and masks. They also have to wash their hands before and after they come into the room. I can only leave the room when I am wearing a gown, gloves, and a mask also. I have to have my own disposable hospital equiptment. Its not fun let me tell you. You feel like a leper. Think about it where do people go when they get sick thats right the hospital so its crawling with germs.

Summer 8-29-2006 @ 8:45PM

I completely understand the value of a clean hospital. I ended up in I.C.U from - you guessed it - staphyloccus aureus, which in turn became blood poisoning. I should have died, and right before Christmas. Best guess where it was contacted? At the Other hospital that had treated me after a botched tooth removal, or at the dentists that botched the tooth. Neither the dentist nor the first hospital staff, unbeknownst to me but observed by someome else, had washed their hands. Oh, and both hospitals..Sebastian River medical Center, and the one that saved my life, Indian River Memorial hospital, are listed as some of the top in the nation.But at IRMH, Everyone, even the Doctors, washed their hands.

bd 8-29-2006 @ 8:26PM

What many people are not familiar with are the many types of bacteria which are NORMAL FLORA or which may be opportunistic bacteria. Many of these stories are really hype b/c the patient in an immunocompromised state already has enough old viruses (encluding Epstein-Barr, etc) and bacteria that reside normally in their respiratory tracts, skin etc. to kill them anyway. Google "normal bacterial flora" and you will come away more enlightened. And may even discover some people naturally carry the 'DREADED' Staph aureus.

Linda Albright 8-29-2006 @ 8:33PM

Not only hospital born infections can be a danger but long term care settings are also high infection sites. The facility where I currently work often has no paper towels for staff to dry their hands on after washing. There is also seldom soap available at the sinks so what are we supposed to wash with? The super germ is alive and well and living in all hospitals and long term care settings. All visitors then carry this germ out into the community with everything they touch.

alien help don't know or care 8-29-2006 @ 8:31PM

excuse me, but i am a nurse and i and all the nurses i work with wash our hands until they almost bleed. we do it for the patients but even more so for ourselves and our families. if you ask me, the problem is with the noneducated, don't really care-- housekeepers. i have watched them for 20 years in the hospital- they will use the same mop to mop all the rooms-nasty- just spreading germs everywhere. i just hate it when they put their gloves on (to protect themselves of coarse) and clean an infectious room, then come out of the room with the same dirty gloves on and insist on using the nurses phone at the desk- i have screamed at them many times and they keep doing this-disgusting!! many are hispanic or black with very little education and do not take pride in their work and don't realize the dangers they lie in their hands when they don't clean properly. all the hand washing won't help a darn thing if the housekeepers are spreading the crap all over the place-everything is then contagious and you can't wear gloves 100% of the time.

Fran 8-29-2006 @ 8:55PM

I can testify to the lack of cleanliness in patients' rooms. My sister was in the local hospital. I do not recall seeing hand sanitizers, but the restrooms had so much built up dust. Totally disgusting. $60/night motels are cleaner.

carlene 8-29-2006 @ 8:35PM

I've called hospitals germ factorys for quite sometime. It's just basic common sense to wash one's hands after going to the bathroom, when cooking washing hands after handling meat products AND not when thru putting a meal together but directly after handing meat before going to the next step be it turning on stove, opening the fridge ie: touching any thing else. Hands dry? Use a moisterizing lotion after washing hands. Come on Doc, I thought you were educated.

W. Lima 8-29-2006 @ 8:42PM

On 7/31/2006, I was in the hospital and had a double by-pass. The nurses all wore rubber gloves. The person who cleaned our rooms, never wiped off my bedside table one time, but I remember when they did, a long time ago, they used the same dirty rag in every room. The doctors, never once did I see them wash their hands. I am home now, and taking care of myself. Thank God. But I still use an alcohol gel on my hands several times a day, and washing them several times a day with soap and water, besides. I know how dangerous this can be.

Barbara 8-29-2006 @ 8:34PM

What most of these articles neglect to mention is that the introduction of "antibacterial" soaps and cleaners play a role in creating supervirus and resistant bateria. Simple washing with a plain liquid soap and use of alcohol is sufficient in most cases to kill germs. People will believe whatever is pushed before them on television and in the media. Profit-mongering has created an over-drugged, sterile society that is prime for epidemic because the average person's resistance to natural flora is low or non-existent.

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