Posted on 11/29/2007 6:23:44 AM PST by shrinkermd
Restaurants in New York are inspected, without prior notice, once a year. In Los Angeles, inspections are done three times a year, and restaurants must display their grade near the front door.
Why aren't hospitals held to the same rigorous standard? The consequences of inadequate hygiene are far deadlier in hospitals than in restaurants. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 2,500 people die each year after picking up a food-borne illness in a restaurant or prepared food store. Forty times that number -- 100,000 people -- die each year, according to the CDC, from infections contracted in health-care facilities.
Data recently published by the Journal of the American Medical Association show that infections from just one type of bacteria -- methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) -- kill about twice as many people in the U.S. as previously thought. The finding is based on lab tests, not on what hospitals report. If the same methodology were used to quantify deaths from all hospital infections, the death toll would likely be much larger than 100,000.
These infections are caused largely by unclean hands, inadequately cleaned equipment and contaminated clothing that allow bacteria to spread from patient to patient. In a study released in April, Boston University researchers examining 49 operating rooms at four New England hospitals found that more than half the objects that should have been disinfected were overlooked by cleaners.
Hospitals used to routinely test surfaces for bacteria, but in 1970 the CDC and the American Hospital Association advised them to stop...
Testing surfaces is so simple and inexpensive that it's used routinely in the food industry. Is it more important to test for bacteria in meat processing plants than in operating rooms?
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Exactly where I contracted the staph that wrapped itself around the base of my spine.
A hospital’s one of the most dangerous places to be.
After 30+ years in the hospital front line, you would’nt beleive what we run across. Biggest issue coming is the number of mutating bacteria and viruses. Remember the movie ‘Andromeda Strain’?
We have to test every manufacturing and testing room we have every day whether we use them or not. And all our products are in vitro diagnostic tests.
Folks can vote with their feet. If you’re having an elective procedure, ask about infection control and stats during pre-admission. After admission, feel free to make sure the healthcare folks have washed/cleansed before touching you. And, if possible, have someone with you at the hospital during your stay to be an extra pair of eyes.
Picking up infections in hospitals seems to be so common. I’ve witnessed unsanitary practices in hospitals firsthand over and over again.
One example: My friend has two children who picked up infections in hospitals and are lucky to be alive. I remember visiting once, and my friend pointed out that the maintainence worker wearing gloves would empty hospital waste cans and then, wearing the same gloves, install the paper towels into the dispenser. Most people think paper towels are sanitary...
I got a call from the CDC for that one.
My mother-in-law had bypass surgery and came through in fine fashion. A couple of days later, while still in the hospital, she died as the result of a post-surgical infection.
That was one of my favorite movies! Super!
Carolyn
A hospital, by its very nature, will always have much higher infection rates... because that is where everyone goes when they have an infection! What I fear is the further destruction of our hospitals and health care systems with these hyperbolic “news” stories. The only 100% sanitary is one that has zero patients, doctors, and nurses, and has just been doused and scrubbed by robot maids... and even then, you’re probably only at 99.44% clean.
“A hospital, by its very nature, will always have much higher infection rates. . . “
You are incorrect. A hospital is where bacteria and viruses are known to be a major health concern if not properly controlled. The hospitals are failing in their control efforts.
If your assumption is correct, doctors and nurses would be leading the nation in contracting infections and that’s not the case.
ding...ding...ding....we have a winner!
if hospitals are so horrible and unsafe and full of infections....which by nature they are full of infected people.....why aren't nurses dropping like flies....
fact is....people in a hospital are not there because they are healthy....
most of the older population that needs a hospital stay are also those patients that have several health problems...diabetes being one...heart failure...renal disease...liver disease...addiction/alcoholism.....they are at risk for picking up many infections.....
I believe people should have proper care in a hosptial....but with rights comes responsibility....so here is a list of what people coming to a hosptial should do....
wash your hands after using the bathroom...don't let visitors use your bathroom or your water glass or even use your sink....don't allow children in...for their sake as well as your own..but especially children with runny noses or coughs...that goes for adults too....
limit visitors period....
IMO most infections "acquired" in a hospital probably were on the skin or nasal passages of the patient to begin with.....acute disease or surgery or an accident can stress the body enough to actually weaken your body's defense system....
As a retired nurse who served on infection control committees, I can tell you right now that it is not the patient’s fault if they contract an infection in the hospital.
Sadly, your unwarranted optimism is just that.
We are now paying the price for insisting on antibiotics when visiting HCP for viruses. Decades of pressuring HCP to "write the prescription so I'll feel loved and cared for."
LOL! They're opening outpatients so they won't have to be on call at the hospital. When you have an emergency in the ER, and wish to have your own doc, you'll find out.
I remember listening to an old lady whining that when she was in the hospital, her own doc wouldn't come see her and treat her. That's because he doesn't have privileges at the hospital. Then, she switched docs because of that, and then whined that he wasn't available in the office, because he was called away to an emergency.
One thing about Hillary Care, it'll quiet the whining.
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