Why Aren't Hospitals Cleaner?
The following is a commentary by Betsy McCaughey, chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, a national effort focusing on hospitals. She was lieutenant governor of New York and has published widely in health policy.
Restaurants and cruise ships are inspected for cleanliness. Food processing plants are tested for bacterial content on cutting boards and equipment. But hospitals, even operating rooms, are exempt. The Joint Commission, which inspects and accredits U.S. hospitals, doesn't measure cleanliness. Neither do most state health departments, nor the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
No wonder hospitals are dirty. New data presented in April at the annual meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America documented the lack of hygiene in hospitals and its relationship to deadly infections. Boston University researchers who examined 49 operating rooms found that more than half of the objects that should have been disinfected were overlooked. A study of patient rooms in 20 hospitals in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C., found that more than half the surfaces that should have been cleaned for new patients were left dirty.
Germ-coated. Sad to say, cleanliness is not a priority for hospital administrators or most medical professionals. A new University of Maryland study shows that 65 percent of physicians and other medical professionals admitted they hadn't washed their lab coat in at least a week, even though they knew it was dirty. Nearly 16 percent said they hadn't put on a clean lab coat in at least a month. Lab coats become covered in bacteria when doctors lean over the bedsides of patients who carry the organisms. Days later the bacteria are still alive, repeatedly contaminating doctors' hands and being carried to other patients.
That's a start, but it's not enough. As long as hospitals are inadequately cleaned, doctors' and nurses' hands will be recontaminated seconds after they are washed — when they touch a keyboard, open a supply closet, pull open a privacy curtain, or contact other bacteria-laden surfaces. In a recent Johns Hopkins Hospital study, 26 percent of supply cabinets were contaminated with a dangerous bacterium, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and 21 percent with another stubborn germ, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE). Keyboards are such reservoirs of deadly bacteria that a few hospitals are installing washable keyboards, including one that sounds an alarm if it isn't disinfected periodically.
Hand to mouth. Stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs, and EKG wires are used on successive patients without being cleaned. Studies published as long ago as 1978 warn that blood pressure cuffs frequently carry live bacteria, including MRSA, and are a source of infection. In a newly released British report, one third of blood pressure cuffs were found to be contaminated with Clostridium difficile, a germ that can cause lethal diarrhea if it enters via the mouth. It's a short trip from a cuff to a patient's bare arm, then to the fingertips and into the mouth. At a hospital in Galveston, Texas, where a burn patient became infected with VRE, molecular typing traced the bacteria to an unclean EKG wire. The VRE on the wire had been left behind by a patient discharged 38 days earlier.
The good news is that a simple solution—thorough cleaning with ordinary detergents and water—curbs the spread of deadly bacteria. When researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago trained the staff to soak surfaces with detergent rather than merely spraying and wiping, and to clean commonly overlooked objects such as telephones, remote controls, and faucets, the spread of VRE to patients was reduced by two thirds.
U.S. News & World Report Restaurants and cruise ships are inspected for cleanliness. Food processing plants are tested for bacterial content on cutting boards and equipment. But hospitals, even operating rooms, are exempt. The Joint Commission, which inspects and accredits U.S. hospitals, doesn't measure cleanliness. Neither do most state health departments, nor the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
No wonder hospitals are dirty. New data presented in April at the annual meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America documented the lack of hygiene in hospitals and its relationship to deadly infections. Boston University researchers who examined 49 operating rooms found that more than half of the objects that should have been disinfected were overlooked. A study of patient rooms in 20 hospitals in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C., found that more than half the surfaces that should have been cleaned for new patients were left dirty.
Germ-coated. Sad to say, cleanliness is not a priority for hospital administrators or most medical professionals. A new University of Maryland study shows that 65 percent of physicians and other medical professionals admitted they hadn't washed their lab coat in at least a week, even though they knew it was dirty. Nearly 16 percent said they hadn't put on a clean lab coat in at least a month. Lab coats become covered in bacteria when doctors lean over the bedsides of patients who carry the organisms. Days later the bacteria are still alive, repeatedly contaminating doctors' hands and being carried to other patients.
The CDC and other organizations urge caregivers to clean their hands between patients, and even advise patients to speak up and request that caregivers have clean hands.From admission to discharge, Dr. Bernadine Healy preps patients and their families for major surgery
That's a start, but it's not enough. As long as hospitals are inadequately cleaned, doctors' and nurses' hands will be recontaminated seconds after they are washed — when they touch a keyboard, open a supply closet, pull open a privacy curtain, or contact other bacteria-laden surfaces. In a recent Johns Hopkins Hospital study, 26 percent of supply cabinets were contaminated with a dangerous bacterium, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and 21 percent with another stubborn germ, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE). Keyboards are such reservoirs of deadly bacteria that a few hospitals are installing washable keyboards, including one that sounds an alarm if it isn't disinfected periodically.
Hand to mouth. Stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs, and EKG wires are used on successive patients without being cleaned. Studies published as long ago as 1978 warn that blood pressure cuffs frequently carry live bacteria, including MRSA, and are a source of infection. In a newly released British report, one third of blood pressure cuffs were found to be contaminated with Clostridium difficile, a germ that can cause lethal diarrhea if it enters via the mouth. It's a short trip from a cuff to a patient's bare arm, then to the fingertips and into the mouth. At a hospital in Galveston, Texas, where a burn patient became infected with VRE, molecular typing traced the bacteria to an unclean EKG wire. The VRE on the wire had been left behind by a patient discharged 38 days earlier.
The good news is that a simple solution—thorough cleaning with ordinary detergents and water—curbs the spread of deadly bacteria. When researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago trained the staff to soak surfaces with detergent rather than merely spraying and wiping, and to clean commonly overlooked objects such as telephones, remote controls, and faucets, the spread of VRE to patients was reduced by two thirds.
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America's hospitals are getting that bad now too. It's mainly due to underpaid staff. You also see health care workers out smoking and never washing their hands when they come in. All are guilty of being dirty people. I don't want to know what their homes look like!
Here in Canada if we have a problem we write our government officials, but here they listen to us. From what I have picked up on the articles on this website is that pretty well everything in your country is corrupt. (no offense)
What I would be doing is writing your congressman,senator and whoever else you can think of. Get everyone you know to write and KEEP WRITING. Don't just stop at one letter. People need to start being heard. They need to start DEMANDING what they want.
As far as the hospitals go though, if they are privately owned and out of the hands of the "People" then I don't know what can be done. Surely though if enough people protest the government should be able to step in and do something about the cleanliness but the government is also part of your problems.
If it was me I would be demanding universal healthcare, regulated prices on your medications etc.
For a country that boasts at being the most powerful and greatest country in the world it is sadly lacking in a good many things that the rest of the world takes for granted.
I can honestly say that from reading all the articles and comments on this website about your country, it has made me see how very lucky I am to have great health care, great hospitals and a great government, even though I am not for the party that is in there now. Here in Canada there isn't so much HATRED and obsession for the governments.
Where is the Food and Drug Administration?
Just goes to show that with insurance and doctors you better not get sick.
Or should one go to a doctor?
"Clean carpets vs. supplies."
CARPETS in a hospital???? I am horrified! It is no wonder there is so much bacteria and infections in your hospitals. Is there carpeting in all hospitals? I mean I have never heard of anything so utterly stupid in my life! The floors in a hospital need to be cleaned EVERYDAY and you can't do that with carpet! Boy am I glad I live in Canada!
$2 trillion per year on health care and we get NO where near the best. I would say that is not a good deal and something needs to be done about that right away!
Apparently the beautified private sector corporate hospitals are filthy too when placed on a petri dish...maybe dirtier.