How nasty!!

Actually it's far more common for me to see docs going in and out of patient rooms without washing.

Everyone I work with is awesome about hand hygiene, thank god! That's nasty!

You're right about the docs. I should have added them.

What scares me more than anything is the staff who basically touch everyone in the hopsital like RT's, phlebotomists, and Xray. I can't tell you how many times I've seen them ignore isolation signs, not wear gloves at all or forget to wash their hands.

In the hospitals in my town, the RNs are as bad as the docs, CNAs and others who provide hands-on care.

How's this for disgusting:

My best friend was in the hospital after a routine appendectomy, and she was sharing a room with a woman having cancer-related complications. Her roommate was vomiting and had severe diarrhea. When the nurse/CNA came in to clean up the woman, they did not wash their hands--just put on gloves. After helping her roommate, the CNA went directly to my friend--still wearing the gloves she used to clean up the other patient--and attempted to check the incision and IV site.

Actually it's far more common for me to see docs going in and out of patient rooms without washing.

And...they go from room to room putting their stethoscopes on the patients without cleaning it between patients and there is foam available at every door jam. Same goes for nurses.

I know one hospital that has public service posters in the hallways of the docs we all know smiling and using hand sanitizer or hand washing encouraging everyone to do the same. I have to admit they get more of a reaction (uncontrolled laughter) than isolation signs on doors.

When I brought my son in for his yearly checkup before kindy....the dr did the testicular exam without gloves. THen...he spun around on his chair..and charted at the computer. As a nurse working in the same facility...I cringe and wash my hands anytime I sit and chart. My hands are usually raw and peeling after a shift...but I will not contribute to nosocomial infections.

(the stethascopes are one of my pet peaves- I see doctors and nurses alike go from room to room without cleaning them.)

And...they go from room to room putting their stethoscopes on the patients without cleaning it between patients and there is foam available at every door jam. Same goes for nurses.

Yeah. What I want is for someone to invent cheap disposable stethoscope diaphragm covers that will be easy to apply and remove and acoustically efficient, something like a super-thin plastic sticky with post-it note glue.

But stethoscopes don't bother me half as much as BP cuffs. And that doesn't bother me anywhere near as much as hospitals not doing admission teaching about handwashing for pts and families and giving each pt a container of Purell on a breakaway neck string.

What got me thinking about all this was a pt with perineal boils whose doctor had taught her to squeeze them with her fingers, but hadn't taught her anything about handwashing. Then I wondered whether any of the bills in my wallet might have been handled by her.

It's a wonder we aren't all like Monk. There can't be that big a leap between being a compulsory handwasher and a compulsive one.