My pts (in a quad room) were all sleeping and I stepped into the entry way into their room to take a peak and check on them. This was not an infection control room.
The infection control nurse comes up from behind and asks if I washed my hands before leaving the room. I said no, I did not really go in to the room and I did not touch anything.
She says, well you just vioated policy. You are to wash your hands before leaving a patients room.
Now I know that bacteria are wiley, tricky, sneaky and devious organisms but I neever knew they could jump 30 ft and purposefully land on my hands.......
We do not have the hand sanitizer at every door. To wash we must use the sink, soap, paper towels the whole nine yards..........
Does this policy seem a little excessive? It doess to me......
how about CYA? Math is a science right? Scientific backing to this policy (as OP requested)
Time taken to wash hands (after doing nothing, for no real reason) 2 minutes-ish (3 if you do a really good job) * number of times you'll have to do this per shift 24 (twice an hour on a 12 hour shift) = Total time spent 48-72 minutes
Is less then
Time spent in a law suit for "complications due to surgery" = The rest of your life.
Infection control will always monitor floors for Hand Hygeine. It's been proven how fast patients catch pneumonia, MRSA, and other baddies because the lack of hand hygeine. If you get busted oh well, just say yes ma'am or sir and move on. Trust me this won't be the last time you'll run into them when you work on the floor.
Specializes in Progressive, Intermediate Care, and Stepdown.
I guess it's better to learn now in school. Easy slap on the wrist lesson if you ask me. Maybe this experience will help you be more conscious of washing your hands even when though pesky bacteria jump thirty feet!
I'm constantly using the foam when I'm on the unit. About half the time that I walk by a dispenser, I reach out and get a little foam. My hands are NOT chapped, and I'm probably foaming 5-6 times an hour, and washing my hands whenever I need to. This way my hands are pretty well clean when I enter a room, interact with patients, and I always foam out, if not wash out. There's always the chance that I might touch a door handle or something else in the environment that is contaminated, or potentially so. Some patients prefer to, or have to, have their door closed, so every time I go into or out of one of those rooms, I foam in and out because I had to touch a door handle. Some really nasty beasties can be on those things and escape casual cleanings...
Am I paraniod, no. I just understand where them little critter can live... and if they can live there, I think they can quite easily set up shop on my hands... and hitch a ride somewhere else. I may be but a student, but I do NOT want to be tracked down as a source or vector of a nosocomial infection!
SomeoneE1se
16 Posts
how about CYA? Math is a science right? Scientific backing to this policy (as OP requested)
Time taken to wash hands (after doing nothing, for no real reason) 2 minutes-ish (3 if you do a really good job) * number of times you'll have to do this per shift 24 (twice an hour on a 12 hour shift) = Total time spent 48-72 minutes
Is less then
Time spent in a law suit for "complications due to surgery" = The rest of your life.