Hospital dangers
February 1st, 2008 by 
David E. Williams of the Health business blog
Turns out installing alcohol-based handwashing gel dispensers in hospitals and encouraging staff to use them isn’t enough to prevent infections. Rings and long fingernails keep hands and dirty and other problems, such as non-sanitized treatment areas and improper handling of catheters are a problem, too. The issue was studied at a hospital in Nebraska, where gel use doubled but infection rates didn’t budge. It’s not surprising to learn that one tactic isn’t sufficient to control infections. Still, whenever I read about the poor record of hospital safety and quality it makes me mad. From the Associated Press:
More gel dispensers were put in the units, and usage rose from 37 percent to 68 percent in one unit and from 38 percent to 69 percent in the other. Compliance for hand washing of any kind in most hospitals is estimated to be about 40 percent, according to experts, although some hospitals do better.
Can you imagine a 40 percent compliance rate in any other business besides health care?
- Pilots going through their pre-flight checklists completely 40 percent of the time?
- Accountants calculating profit and loss correctly 40 percent of the time?
- Hamburger flippers putting all the ingredients on a Whopper 40 percent of the time?
No way. We shouldn’t tolerate it in health care either.
Posted in Hospitals, Research | 
4 Comments »
February 4th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
My understanding of the gels are that they kill some (but not all) bacteria, and are mostly ineffective against viruses, and do nothing to remove environmental contaminants, such as arsenic, rat poison, and the like. They’d certainly be better off washing their hands! I wonder what the compliance percentage is at restaurants?
February 5th, 2008 at 6:46 am
Nice Post
February 13th, 2008 at 11:50 am
[...] From the AP, via David Williams’ Health Business Blog: Turns out installing alcohol-based handwashing gel dispensers in hospitals and encouraging staff to use them isn’t enough to prevent infections. … The issue was studied at a hospital in Nebraska, where gel use doubled but infection rates didn’t budge. It’s not surprising to learn that one tactic isn’t sufficient to control infections. Still, whenever I read about the poor record of hospital safety and quality it makes me mad. From the Associated Press: More gel dispensers were put in the units, and usage rose from 37 percent to 68 percent in one unit and from 38 percent to 69 percent in the other. Compliance for hand washing of any kind in most hospitals is estimated to be about 40 percent, according to experts, although some hospitals do better. [...]
February 15th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
[...] The article quoted some statistics I’ve seen before, from a Soap and Detergent Association and American Society for Microbiology study that showed 34 percent of men and 12 percent of women don’t wash their hands after using the bathroom. But it reminded me of another figure that the Associated Press published recently, which indicated that compliance with handwashing in the hospital is about 40 percent. (I don’t know where that figure came from and of course it could be bogus.) If it’s true, that means 60 percent aren’t washing, which is worse than the general public’s bathroom habits. [...]