OMG, wash your hands!

[anotherone]

After my (almost) 2 years in nursing guess who I have observed to be one of the least likely to wash his/her hands? Is it the doctors, RT, pt, ot, nurses, aides or the unit clerk? NONE OF THESE. IT IS THE patient. I mean AO3 patients. So many times I have assisted patients who are COMPLETELY ORIENTED to the bathroom, wait for them, as is our policy, and the pt does not wash his/her hands! wow. Pt's do their own ostomy care, touch wounds etc....:barf01:......... I knew about hand washing wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy before I was a nurse. I knew about germs and hand washing as a toddler, seriously, I was nothing exceptional, or so I thought. I remind the pt to wash his/her hands especially after using the bathroom and before eating . But, I feel like I am their nagging mother. I didn't know so many completely functioning oriented adults had to be reminded of this. Is it just me or do others observe this also ?

[RURN2O11]

Yep, I see this all the time! Men & women both.

[IsmeAmanda, LPN]

My hospital got slammed by JCAHO for hand washing deficiencies. Problem is, they did very few walk throughs and when they did, they stayed in the managers office for the majority of their stay. So why did they peg us as being non-compliant?

Its simple. They pulled some data from our statistics. The data dates ranged from their last visit to the present. Said data showed an increase in C-diff infections and other hand washing related incidents. So, by default they figured the staff weren't doing it and were to blame.

The hospital, obviously, made a big stink about it with the staff. They sent out emails saying "this is a universal verbal warning to all staff regarding hand washing." So, everyone already had a verbal warning and, if seen exiting/entering a room without using proper hand washing procedure, you'd be written up. With the verbal warning already in place.........you'd be suspended 1st time and terminated the 2nd time it happened.

This part is just status quo, but the next part isn't: the hospital also stood up to JCAHO and told them their survey results were unfounded/unsound. And to back their statements up, a number of research projects and internal investigations were initiated. The biggest of these was watching whether visitors/patients follow proper hand washing technique. There is also a project for tracking how often visitors/patients enter other's rooms and restricted areas (kitchen).

So far the results have been eye opening. They definitely support the assertion that a great many sanitation/infection incidents are patient/visitor issues, not staff issues.

WOW, that is seriously crazy!

[PennyWise]

Good for the hospital fighting back. Did TJC also cite you for using too much ampicillin and cephalasporins?

Mmmm.......that part I don't know about. I didn't hear that they did. They were all over us about the handwashing though.

[chaka_1709]

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!! I don't understand why people don't wash or hands and think its okay.

[MahzieLPN, LPN]

The place I've seen the least amount of handwashing is in the hospital cafeteria. I don't mean by the cafeteria staff, but by other hospital staff and visitors who have been on the units seeing family and caring for patients. As they enter the cafeteria area, very few of them stop and utilize the wall-mounted Purell (or whatever brand) hand sanitizer station BEFORE getting their meal. I realize they'll still touch their money, which is filthy-dirty, but at least they'll have a fighting chance not to infect themselves from the patient areas.

[amy007]

And they get all touchy when reminded!!

[cherryames1949]

One has to wonder why the simplest form of infection control is such a struggle!

[Tragically Hip]

When a someone famous comes up with a good rap song about washing hands, you'll see the level of compliance climb dramatically.

[Tragically Hip]

I realize they'll still touch their money, which is filthy-dirty, but at least they'll have a fighting chance not to infect themselves from the patient areas.

It drives me bonkers when a person wears gloves, prepares a sandwich (for instance), and then rings up your order and handles money while wearing the same gloves, and then makes another sandwich-still wearing the same gloves. In fact, I had a dental hygienist do the same sort of thing, positioning bite wing films in my mouth, then manipulating the x-ray machine handle, then putting fresh bite wing films in my mouth.....yeccch. My current dental office is scrupulous in doing their best not to spread pathogens.