I had to post this one. I was watching GOOD MORNING AMERICA. After The interview with Brad Pitt, they started talking about hospital infections. It was very interesting.
My only problem, they did not mention that alot of these "super bugs" are the result of the misuse of antibiotics by the public
Many Americans may not realize it, but some hospitals in the United States are rampant with infection-causing bacteria. According to some experts, more than 100,000 people die every year from infections contracted in hospitals.
This morning, Betsy McCaughey, founder of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, appeared on "Good Morning America" to talk to viewers about how they can protect themselves from contracting infections in hospitals. Some of her tips include:
* Don't be afraid to ask the doctor to wash his or her hands and clean stethoscope or other equipment with alcohol.
* At least a week before surgery, start using an antibacterial soap and don't shave, which can cause nicks and cuts for bacteria to enter.
* Ask your doctor about taking pre-surgery antibiotics.
* Limit the number of people in the operating room.
* Try to avoid the use of a urinary catheter if possible -- they are a commom infection entry point.
If you'd like more information, go to hospitalinfectionrates.org.
Specializes in Telemetry, ICU, Resource Pool, Dialysis.
I never could find the particular "study" she referred me to, but I did some quick research. Most of the studies I found regarding pre-operative abx had to do with timing in relation to effectiveness. One study cited a problem of abx being given too early - not through any fault of the prescriber or the nurse, but because the surgery got delayed after the med had been given. Or vanco being ordered "on call or OR" but everybody know it takes 90 minutes to infuse 1 gr. Most of the ones I found were not large scale research, they were done by individual hospitals looking for a way to improve their protocols. I think she just mistated it. It would have been better to just recommend that patients ask about immediate pre-op abx and leave it at that instead of putting a negative twist on it.
After reading the new posts, I take back what I posted earlier. This women is obviously making assumptions and speaking about areas of health care that she knows little about. It is very irritating that she can go on national tv and give advice to the public without having anything to back it up.
After reading the new posts, I take back what I posted earlier. This women is obviously making assumptions and speaking about areas of health care that she knows little about. It is very irritating that she can go on national tv and give advice to the public without having anything to back it up.
Jen
Since when did you need to have real information and facts to be on TV!
Don't shave? Doesn't this lady realize that the surgical area will be prepped by a shave??
I would say hopefully not...
Individual studies have questioned the practice of hair removal, finding that hair removal with a razor results in increased rates of postoperative surgical site infections. Studies into the effects of hair removal with a razor have shown that shaving causes small nicks in the skin, which become colonised by organisms and may lead to infection. More recently, a systematic review was conducted that combined a range of studies, adding weight to the argument that preoperative hair removal should not be considered a routine practice.
1. Kjonniksen, Andersen, Sondenaa, Segadal, 2002 Preoperative hair removal - a systematic literature review, AORN, 75, 5, 928-940
2. Mangram, Horan, Pearson, Silver, Jarvis, the hospital infection control practices advisory committee, guideline for the prevention of surgical site infection, 1999. Infection control and hospital epidemiology, 20:247-280.
If pre-op hair removal still NEEDS to take place, the following is recommended...
Clipping should be the preferred method of hair removal to prevent urgical site infection and it should be conducted as close as practical to the time of surgery, preferably less than 2 hours prior to surgery.
Specializes in Telemetry, ICU, Resource Pool, Dialysis.
I would say hopefully not...
Individual studies have questioned the practice of hair removal, finding that hair removal with a razor results in increased rates of postoperative surgical site infections. Studies into the effects of hair removal with a razor have shown that shaving causes small nicks in the skin, which become colonised by organisms and may lead to infection. More recently, a systematic review was conducted that combined a range of studies, adding weight to the argument that preoperative hair removal should not be considered a routine practice.
Yes, I assumed she was advising men not to shave facial hair. I meant "clipped", since I don't think anybody actually shaves with a razor as a surgical prep anymore. I know we don't. But I suppose the advice to "not shave a week before" is good if you have someone who makes it a habit to shave other parts of their body - which some people do.
But I suppose the advice to "not shave a week before" is good if you have someone who makes it a habit to shave other parts of their body - which some people do.
Specializes in Telemetry, ICU, Resource Pool, Dialysis.
Have you met my brother then? :chuckle
No, I don't believe I have, but I have probably met some folks in the same club!!:rotfl:
Sometimes when we get older patients with a great sense of humor, some of us will say "Would you like heart-shaped or traditional?" for a heart cath prep. Always cracks them up.
One of the nurses I work with was teasing her pre-op open heart pt about having to clip the "1 hair" on his chest. He was very protective of it. She told him it would grow back thicker. She had him as a pt again about a year later and he said "I remember you. You shaved the 1 hair I had, and guess what, it never grew back at all!"
While taking care of sick relatives as an outside observer I see how many more simple things can be done to prevent infections. Below are the most common observed;
1. Not washing hands (it's amazing how many care providers don't do it).
2. Picking up ANYTHING that falls of the floor including yankauer, antiembolism boots, linen etc.). The floor has to be be the worst place. At least that's what I was taught by Florence.
3. Keeping a wash basin with EVERYTHING in it. Tape is the worse especially when it falls out of your hand, rolls across the room, you pick it up and tape down a central line dressing.
4. Not labeling solutions when opened. What happened there? Used to be common.
5. Suctioning and touching everything else with the catheter before you go down the trach.
6. Cramming disposable contaminated in with sterile or clean supplies.
Well I could go on but suffice to say that we have to go back to some basic nursing and get tough with physicians and other staff who don't follow the basic rules on preventing hospital acquired infections.
Specializes in Med/Surg, ER, L&D, ICU, OR, Educator.
I did see this report on GMA too, and while I have not researched the basis of what they said as some of you great investigative nurses did, I was generally unimpressed with the recommendations, and remember thinking "now how is that helpful at all to the general public"?
These programs must absolutely drive providers crazy! Imagine patients, at their pre-op H&P appt: "Should I stop shaving one week prior? Only on my abdomen? I don't shave my abdomen anyway! So I can still shave my legs and armpits? I wonder if that is what that woman on TV meant! Are you going to write me a prescription for an antibiotic to take for awhile before my surgery? No? I've heard that I should ask for it! Are you sure she meant 30 minutes pre-op? What about the number of people that will be in the OR with us? I mean that I want to keep that number down. Well, yes. I guess that I do want all the necessary people, so...yes I will try to trust that all the excess staff will not be parading through in their spare time".
I have a particular bug-a-boo .... we let our csections shower. They take off their dressings (because it was wet and yucky) and then pop on their own clothes from home. When the 95 members of their extended family leave they ring and ask for a new dressing.
I surely hope they are not the ones complaining that nurses don't wash their hands!
This is somewhat unrelated, but this made me think of this again, and made me mad.
I was having dinner tonight with the parents, and my mom commented that she saw a man on " the tv" who went to the ER of the hospital that I just started as a brand new GN in. She said the guy was complaining that he was treated as a "second class citizen" because he didn't have insurance. Other people with ins. were taken in before him, and were treated nicer than him. He was made to suffer in the waiting room, and then when he went back everyone was "mean" to him, all because he didn't have insurance. My parents were appalled, as was I, but obvisouly for different reasons. As I tried to explain that the doctors and nurses and techs, couldn't really care less of this guys financial status, they were looking at me like I was 5 again. My dad commented that I just didn't understand how emergency rooms were run (my summer as an ER tech and 2 years of nursing school paled in comparison to his 30 minutes of watching the nightly news)
People love hearing about the big bad world of healthcare. Its a very enemy and victim mentality to many people. People need to be protected from the very people who save their lives. ( now don't get me wrong, there needs to be ALOT of improvements, and there are evil people in HC but please.)
pricklypear
1,060 Posts
I never could find the particular "study" she referred me to, but I did some quick research. Most of the studies I found regarding pre-operative abx had to do with timing in relation to effectiveness. One study cited a problem of abx being given too early - not through any fault of the prescriber or the nurse, but because the surgery got delayed after the med had been given. Or vanco being ordered "on call or OR" but everybody know it takes 90 minutes to infuse 1 gr. Most of the ones I found were not large scale research, they were done by individual hospitals looking for a way to improve their protocols. I think she just mistated it. It would have been better to just recommend that patients ask about immediate pre-op abx and leave it at that instead of putting a negative twist on it.