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 
@JoeKeeley: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_venous_catheter
@JoeKeeley: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_venous_catheter
Semmelweis, Pasteur, and Lister are names from the history books, 19′th century. I am reminded of the difference between we humans and the rats upon which we perform experiments in behavioral psychology; the rats learn, the humans rationalize.
Semmelweis, Pasteur, and Lister are names from the history books, 19′th century. I am reminded of the difference between we humans and the rats upon which we perform experiments in behavioral psychology; the rats learn, the humans rationalize.
Nearly 160 years after Semmelweis, and apparently doctor’s *still* don’t get it. What’s up with that?
Nearly 160 years after Semmelweis, and apparently doctor’s *still* don’t get it. What’s up with that?
It never ceases to amaze me just how many people DO NO wash their hands in the men’s room here at work. It kinda makes you feel like a germ-o-phobe whenever grabbing for a door handle, but I do find myself washing my hands pretty frequently, especially at work.
–ftm
It never ceases to amaze me just how many people DO NO wash their hands in the men’s room here at work. It kinda makes you feel like a germ-o-phobe whenever grabbing for a door handle, but I do find myself washing my hands pretty frequently, especially at work.
–ftm