We had a nice but icky discussion last week about how healthcare professionals weren't exactly scrupulous when it comes to washing their hands between patients (and door touching, etc.) and that patients are being encouraged to ask them to wash up. And there was some talk of hidden hand santizer pumps that they might be using outside the patient's room, which made a few of us (and by "us" I mean "me") feel better and like they could go on living in denial about their doctor's dirty hands.
Well, a study out of Nebraska got down and dirty and concluded that Purell and the other alcohol-based hand santizers aren't getting it done. Even though a hospital in the study doubled its use of the sanitizing gels, the rate of infections did not decrease. These gels may clean the hands but they don't kill bacteria that cause infections. Ew.
See, the hand gunk doesn't get in all the areas on the hands where the bacteria reside.
The doctor who studied the problem pointed to many villains: Rings and
fingernails that are too long and hard to clean, poor handling of
catheters and treatment areas that aren't sanitized.
Is it really such a big deal? Yes.
The spread of infection-causing germs in U.S. hospitals is a huge
health problem, accounting for an estimated 1.7 million infections and
99,000 deaths each year, according to the CDC. These include drug-resistant staph, urinary tract infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia, among others.
So we're back to where we were the other day in this discussion. It's up to us to bravely ask doctors and nurses and any other healthcare worker who are about to touch us to wash their hands with soap and warm water if we don't see them do it. And gloves are only sterile if they've been put on by hands that have been washed. And hand sanitizer doesn't count. Can't wait to run that one by my defensive pediatrician.
