[DusktilDawn]

I would refuse to wear a button like this. I agree with others. It is demeaning. Of course they would never consider subjecting doctors or residents to this. Bet the brains that came up with this are not wearing these buttons. A giant hand?????? That's as bad as the two "clowns" (yep, folks dressed as clowns) that were running around a facility I worked at, I never did understand the purpose of that.

How about us asking the visitors who bring the 2-6 snotty nosed kids that run wildily up and down the hall pawing everything if they've washed their hands.
How about enforcing the visitation policy of 2 per patient and backing up the nurses on this one.
How about BR facilities for visitors on each unit so that they are not using the patient's BR, and including signs to remind them to wash their hands.
How about the sinks/BRs being supplied with paper towels, soap, and TP so I'm not running high and low looking for these things every time I wash my hands.
How about sterile drsg trays (at my facility they do not have them), I've seen doctors and nurses using the "clean" gloves from the boxes to do wound packings (I will only use sterile ones).
I could go on and on on this one.

I wash my before and after each patient, each procedure, before and after gloving, etc, they are raw, I will not wash my hands for performance purposes.

[Cute_CNA]

Having to wear a button like that makes nurses appear incompetant, which is very insulting. If I had to wear it, I would wear it on my bum to show that the people behind this idea could kiss my ---.

I think the hand mascot is just more evidence that whoever thought of this campaign is an idiot. A 9 foot hand, lol! I wonder if you could have manipulated the costume so that a certain finger was extended.

[Hellllllo Nurse]

Originally Posted by daisybaby

Today, administrators launched a handwashing campaign, part of which includes having patient care staff wear giant buttons that say, "Ask me if I washed my hands!" Patients are encouraged to ask this of their nurse/CNA/etc. every time s/he walks into their room. Every time.

I find this incredibly insulting both to my intelligence and to my professional practice as an RN. I cannot imagine what patients must be thinking: does it imply that we don't know enough to wash our hands? What else do they need to be checking up on, if we can't be trusted to have washed our hands after patient contact?

I understand that the aim is to decrease the spread of microorganisms. We all learned that in Nursing Fundamentals. I've listened to all the inservices on handwashing, antimicrobial foam and gel, and standard precautions ad nauseum. But this is way over the top. I don't ask my mechanic if he remembered to put all the parts back in my car and I don't ask my accountant if she used a calculator to figure out my taxes. I don't think I should be asked over and over if I'm doing my job, either.

We've had a hard enough time trying to be recognized as professionals without this nonsense. If I wanted to wear giant silly buttons at work I'd be waiting tables at TGI Fridays.

I told one of the administrators I'd consider wearing one if all the docs had to wear them, too. It's been a long time since I've seen some of them lather up before performing a bare-handed dressing change.

Rediculous!

I've read numerous articles which state that doctors wash their hands far less frequently than nurses do. Here are some links so you can print them out and give them to your admin:


A study of the hand washing habits of staff in an Irish intensive care unit found that doctors washed their hands less than other health professionals and were the least responsive to a hygiene campaign aimed at tackling this problem.


http://www.irishhealth.com/?level=4&id=7897




Doctors cleansed their hands 57% of the times that they should have. They cleansed hands most often when a hand-rub solution was easily available. They did not wash hands as often when they had busy workloads with many patient interactions and when they performed activities with high risks for spreading infections. These activities required cleansing hands immediately before examining patients or between examining different body sites on the same patient. Medical students and internists (internal medicine doctors) washed hands most often, whereas anesthesiologists, critical care physicians, and surgeons washed hands least often. Doctors who valued hand hygiene and considered themselves role models washed hands often. http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/conte...l/318/7185/686



Doctors skimp on hand hygeine
Surgeions, ER doctors worst offenders, study findshttp://www.hon.ch/News/HSN/519913.html
http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/141/1/I-38

[BrittanyRN]

I really think these idiots that dream up these things have been cooped up in an office way too long! A few years back our hosital system came up with a campain to showcase how caring and compassionate our staff was and they made up a button for us to wear that said, "You deserve to be treated this way!" Needless to say this didn't last long either.

[directcare4me]

I think we should wear buttons that say "ask me if I've had lunch today".


Seriously, I wouldn't wear it either. It is demeaning, and implies everything that everyone else has said. Might as well ask me to wear one that says " ask me if I calculated this dose correctly", or "ask me if I know what I am doing".

[mhull]

Originally Posted by directcare4me

I think we should wear buttons that say "ask me if I've had lunch today".

lol....I couldn't help but laugh. How about one that says, "ask me when the last time i peed was?"

[SouthernLPN2RN]

That is entirely too demeaning. I thought some of the scripts we had to wear on our badge (and were supposed to use) were dumb, but this idea is crazy!! I believe I know of a button that would do well as a replacement: Do you want fries with that?

[CrunchRN]

How about this button: ask me if I have had a chance to pee today? or: ask me how many nurses are staffed for your care today................

Ludicrous - at first I thought you were joking because it is so stupid.

[chadash]

This would be about the same as "Ask me if i pick my nose" button to me.
Not to mention a button typically has a pin on it. That's just asking for injury.
__________________
Marie, LPN in O.R., pursuing RN, Semester 1 of ?.

Nursing Advocacy does not speak for me.



This could cause a nose bleed!

[chadash]

[quote=Hellllllo Nurse]


A study of the hand washing habits of staff in an Irish intensive care unit found that doctors washed their hands less than other health professionals and were the least responsive to a hygiene campaign aimed at tackling this problem.


http://www.irishhealth.com/?level=4&id=7897

QUOTE]
ah ha! is this a subtle ethic slur against my people? I resemble that remark…