nosocomial infection

Healthcare workers..not just nurses.

I used to think the same thing about those hand sanitizers. I'd see nurses all the time just putting that on their hands instead of really washing their hands with soap and hot water. BUT, an infection control nurse talked to us the first of this semester as part of our hospital orientation. She showed us something that was really interesting:

She had 10 people line up. She had a spray bottle of something that was supposed to be the "germs". She sprayed it on the first person's hand. The first person shook hands with the second person, second person shook hands with the third person, and so on down the line. Then she turned off the lights and had some kind of fluorescent light that she shined on each person's hands, showing how much germs were passed on. You could see the germs on their hands. Then she had 5 people go to the bathroom and wash their hands with hot soap and water. Then 5 people used the hand sanitizer, with no other soap and water. Then she shined the light on all their hands again. The people that used the sanitizer had almost no germs while the people that washed with soap and hot water still had some germs on their hands. It was really surprising.

I would ask if it's just healthcare workers in general then how is Community Acquired MRSA spreading like wildfire in the general population? Totally different strains than in healthcare setting, more aggressive strains that can attack healthy skin.

To some degree it can be held in check by adhering to procedures but the bugs adapt, overcome and improvise. They are like little marines at war lol

There's a couple of great medical research pieces going on over seas for staph patients!

http://www.caercoork.com/orsa/news.html

I've also updated my ORSA site, including a BLOG. The BLOG is a great outlet. I highly recommend journaling of some form!

If they cure this today, you will want a record of what it was like for your grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Think of all the people that lived through polio and our kids don't know what the word is! They think it's a game you play in the pool invented by a kid named Marco!

JCAHO is big on pneumonia following surgery as a MAJOR nosocomial infection. Check out their site, and the Institute of Medicine (they do research and JCAHO creates guidelines according to the research).