Strollerderby : nurses

Neonatal Nurse Puts Preemie in Her Pocket and Takes Pictures

JeanneSager — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:57:00 GMT

A nurse on the neonatal unit of an Israeli hospital is facing disciplinary action after photos of her holding a premature infant girl in her pocket landed in the hands of hospital adminstration. The hospital's director general has her back, saying the photos were taken as part of a presentation to be shown to parents of preemies.

Most troubling here, no one seems to know whether the baby girl's parents were aware their daughter was out of her incubator and slipped kangaroo-style into a nurse's scrub pocket or whether they agreed to have their delicate baby used in the photo the hospital said was supposed to provide a bit of humor in the presentation. What's funny about a teeny weeny baby struggling to survive catching the creeping crud from a nurse's dirty pocket?

The nurse is said not to have initiated the photos - she was simply doing what she was told. A veteran of more than a dozen years on the neonatal unit, you'd hope she'd have more sensitivity and just plain sense.

Do you think she should be disciplined or should the punishment be levied on the boss who passed down the order?

Source/Image: YNetNews

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Clean Hands: Purell Ain't Getting It Done

Madeline Holler — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:38:00 GMT

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.

You Can Ask? Really?

Madeline Holler — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:31:00 GMT

Have I mentioned I'm not terribly assertive with medical professionals? Well, I'm not. I've got a milllllion opinions and demands and I'm more than willing to share them, just not with the actual nurse or doctor. I just hate the double-takes, exasperation and sometimes mild offense of a reaction I get those times I have womaned-up and asked a question and/or made a request.

So I am at once in awe/totally tense reading about these people, who have the nerve to ask doctors and nurses to do something they should have had the professional sense to already have done: wash their hands.

According to this, repeated studies show that healthcare workers wash up adequately about half the time. (Half!) Some hospitals post a hygiene rate of 20 percent. (Twenty percent!).

I know! Washing hands! The No. 1 way to cut down on those infections and viruses that are spread around hospitals and medical facilities! But I think we all know they DON'T always wash their hands -- the pediatrician coming in to do a check-up, the nurse readying my kid for another round of shots. I HAVE noticed that the sink sits there dry and unused, but of course I haven't said anything (wouldn't want to cause ill will).

Here's what's supposed to happen: National guidelines say they’re supposed to use alcohol-based hand rubs or soap and warm water for at least 15 seconds before and after every direct contact with a patient, with excretions, or with contaminated surfaces or objects. And just putting on gloves isn't enough, the article says. They're supposed to wash their hands first and THEN put on the gloves, otherwise they contaminate the outside of the glove when putting it on.

In an effort to increase the hygiene rate, some hospitals across the country want you to ask. They've got posters, brochures, buttons, etc. saying "It's OK to ask," and hope to urge you to speak up when you don't see the nurses and doctors wash up before touching you.

That's exactly what Dalynn Morales did. The 33-year-old cancer patient at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Ore., noticed that a nurse failed to clean her hands before adjusting Morales’ antibiotic line.

“I said, ‘Could you please wash?’” Morales recalled, adding that the nurse quickly complied. “I’m not sure if she felt insulted or not.”

We'll just skip over why we even have to ask, how it's not already automatic to walk into a room and straight to the sink. But now that I know it's OK, I wonder if I will. I'm trying to think how I would ask. Do you say: "Hey, mind washing up?" or "I read that I should be asking you to wash your hands," or ... how do you phrase it without getting them all pissy with you? Come on, give me the script.

Have you ever asked your doctor or nurse to wash their hands? What was the reaction?

Strollerderby Playdate: True Tales of a Labor Nurse

Amy Kuras — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:02:00 GMT

I have a major thing for nurses. Oh, for the love…not like that, you sick bastards. Nurses go back three generations in my family.

Through infertility treatment and one completed pregnancy and one almost-completed one, it was always the nurses that got me through. I think that's the case for most women who've given birth; like 'em or hate 'em, there is always a Nurse Plotline as part of the birth story.

To the nurses, it’s the other way around – for every Nurse Plot there have to be a hundred Crazy-Ass Patient stories (actually, my sister-in-law was a labor and delivery nurse for awhile and I can guarantee that firsthand).

As I am gearing up to have another baby and hoping very much to not be the talk of the nurses' station for good or ill, I found Rebirth Nurse completely fascinating when I stumbled across it today. A student nurse-midwife with seven years experience as a labor nurse, she tells it like it is from her side of the bed.

This one, given some recent and hilarious discussions around here from the male quarters, was especially funny.
If you ever wonder what really goes on in an L&D floor, this should be a must-read.

Trading Spaces: Nurses Try "Preemie For a Day"

Karen Murphy — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 23:17:00 GMT

Ever wonder what it's like to be a tiny, vulnerable newborn? Some nurses in Illinois are finding out with an innovative new program that allows them to experience some of the abrupt changes that take place for the tiniest babies in the moments after their birth. The nurses are learning to better simulate the soothing world of the womb for preemies in the days following their birth so that they can weather the transition from a warm and relatively quiet uterus to the bustling world of the NICU. Nurses drink from bottles and suck on pacifiers after having lain in a fetal position to simulate some of the sensory input a preemie experiences. (I am wondering if there aren't some nutjobs out there who would pay serious money to see this?)

This sounds like a good attempt and is probably the best we can really do to simulate a baby's experience but I have to wonder if it is even possible to remotely understand everything that's going on within a tiny baby during those days.