A few months back, we wrote about one hospital’s very creative effort to get its medical staff to do a better job of washing their hands. Because so many people die in hospitals each year from bacterial infections they acquire while being treated for something else, the Institute of Medicine had sounded a loud alarm, urging all hospitals to do something about the problem.
One of the easiest ways to get a potentially fatal infection is if you have a central-line catheter put in; as many as 28,000 patients die each year from infections caused by the insertion of a central-line catheter.
The current New England Journal of Medicine reports on a study conducted in Michigan hospitals to see if increased vigilance on hand hygiene would cut down on the incidence of catheter infections.
And it worked, big-time. “The results are pretty breathtaking,” Dr. Peter Pronovost, a Johns Hopkins researcher and the lead author of the study told the Baltimore Sun. “The numbers of infections went down quickly and they stayed down.”
and 
. You can also watch it on 
And yet, where I see this headed is a new class of malpractice lawsuit: The Dirty-Handed Doctor.
And yet, where I see this headed is a new class of malpractice lawsuit: The Dirty-Handed Doctor.
(PS: Please dont mind, that I’m writing a little “off” the topic at the moment)
Absolute Wow!!!
Though I am an idiot who took 2 months for registering as a user on this blog.
I’m overwhelmed that I’ll be expressing something here that will be read by my favorite Authors!
Please don’t mind if I stretch my praises about Mr Dubner or Dr Levitt.
You guys are “absolutely amazing”; though I know you would be tired to hearing this:)
Regards,
Sanjeev
(PS: Please dont mind, that I’m writing a little “off” the topic at the moment)
Absolute Wow!!!
Though I am an idiot who took 2 months for registering as a user on this blog.
I’m overwhelmed that I’ll be expressing something here that will be read by my favorite Authors!
Please don’t mind if I stretch my praises about Mr Dubner or Dr Levitt.
You guys are “absolutely amazing”; though I know you would be tired to hearing this:)
Regards,
Sanjeev
My experience agrees with this and the previous post: Doctors are bad at washing hands. However, I would like to know who, if anyone, looked at the hand-washing habits of nurses. In my experience they are just as bad if not worse. Their effect on patient care particularly in the ICU is vastly more important than the effect of the doctor. The doctor may only touch the patient twice a day, the nurse will do so many more times.
Just because they had a nursing team “spying” on the doctors does not mean their own profession is above scrutiny.
Finally, I would hope there were at least some physicians embarassed to accept a $10 voucher for washing their hands…
My experience agrees with this and the previous post: Doctors are bad at washing hands. However, I would like to know who, if anyone, looked at the hand-washing habits of nurses. In my experience they are just as bad if not worse. Their effect on patient care particularly in the ICU is vastly more important than the effect of the doctor. The doctor may only touch the patient twice a day, the nurse will do so many more times.
Just because they had a nursing team “spying” on the doctors does not mean their own profession is above scrutiny.
Finally, I would hope there were at least some physicians embarassed to accept a $10 voucher for washing their hands…
I hate to ask, but what is a “central-line catheter”? I know what a catheter is, and I shutter at the thought of what “cental-line” is, but I am unsure.
If it’s what I think, I don’t know what is worse: The number of fatal infections or the number of those catheters!
Happy New Year, Joe
I hate to ask, but what is a “central-line catheter”? I know what a catheter is, and I shutter at the thought of what “cental-line” is, but I am unsure.
If it’s what I think, I don’t know what is worse: The number of fatal infections or the number of those catheters!
Happy New Year, Joe