Preventing Hospital-Acquired Infections

[Scorpion]

If hospitals had to pick up the tab for the entire hospitalization if someone acquired an infection, you would see a lot more compliance.

That's a great idea!

[ancientgimp]

If the nurses had washed their hands with soap and water instead of squirting their hands with disinfectant, my wife would have been less likely to get a C. diff. infection.
Comes to that, given better hygiene, maybe she wouldn't have gotten the infection from the PICC line during chemotherapy that led to 2 spinal abscesses requiring surgery that led to severe kyphosis that led to more surgery that left her paraplegic.
- Richard

BTW, a spammer (lacewigs) seems to have inserted itself above; perhaps a mod could kindly disinfect this thread.
....thanks, moderator!

Re C Diff the key does seem to be SOAP AND WATER. My wife had terrible case of C Diff during recent 160 days of hospitalizatioon post pneumonia. Her new primary physician attended a seminart on C Diff recently and says the incidence of C Diff spiked in the recent past coinciding with the near universal adoption at health care facilities of antibacterial cleansers hung from all the walls, doorways, etc. Health care providers would move from patient to patient carefully cleansing their hands with disinfectants which were ineffective against C Diff - had they used soap and water other patients would have been protected.

[Leila]

Finally completed my article:

http://microcyn.blogspot.com/2011/01...proach-to.html

[Mary Jane]

Thanks, Leila. I sent questions I had to Occulus but haven't received a response yet. But your article is just what I need to share with my son's doctors in an explanation of how the substance works and that cllinical trails have been done.

Do you know if clinical trials are being considered for treatment or prevention of UTIs? ( I know you had asked Dr. Young about that long ago.)

[Leila]

Don't give up MaryJane. It's a long road and there's a lot of complacency to contend with. But if you keep your spirits up and just keep supplying more and more info, people will start to acknowledge the importance of Microcyn as a medical breakthrough. These videos contain much info:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2saruj3qvQv

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b0gp2C8R5E

http://www.oculusis.com/mexico/mp/video.php

I wish I could say that clinical trials for urology have begun but I fear we are caught up in entrepeneurial entanglements that may put this off for awhile. I don't know. But cllnical trials can cost up to a quarter of a billion dollars and Oculus is still pushing hard for profitability at this point. A lot of people are suffering because of this, but I try not to blame anyone.

Hoji Alimi, the founder and CEO of Oculus, is a good man--you might try expressing your concerns to him: halimi@oculusis.com

You're a loving Mom--and your son is blessed with that gift.

Susanne

[metronycguy]

Re C Diff the key does seem to be SOAP AND WATER. My wife had terrible case of C Diff during recent 160 days of hospitalizatioon post pneumonia. Her new primary physician attended a seminart on C Diff recently and says the incidence of C Diff spiked in the recent past coinciding with the near universal adoption at health care facilities of antibacterial cleansers hung from all the walls, doorways, etc. Health care providers would move from patient to patient carefully cleansing their hands with disinfectants which were ineffective against C Diff - had they used soap and water other patients would have been protected.

if you read most sanitizers inclining liquid and hand sanitizer. bathrooom sanitizers for ever room sanitizer.. .
most state it will disinfect if left wet for 10 minutes on non-porous surfaces.

the forst time i read instructional odnhand sanitizer, it stated at least a couple minutes and to let air dry for that time/


who does this----------- no body

[metronycguy]

i posted a new c diff treatment i saw on med page on this forum last night, it sounds strange, but check it out and you can always get more info from the people doing this technique. it is weird though, transplant of feces, but they said they had success.i will come back and edit with the link

[ekephart]

My son contracted a UTI (club ciela(sp?)) at the trauma hospital that not only is resistant but required that we all wear isolation gowns not only for his trauma stay but also for his rehab stay (total of five months). We were very compliant about the gowns ad gloves and were told at then end of our rehab stay that we are the exception.

He evidently still has the germs since they were never killed. The only time I wear gloves while taking care of him is when I administer a bullet (for obvious reasons). I do, however, wash my hands 100 times a day. Yes my hand are dry ( a bit of EVOO before bed helps when I remember). No one at my house has gotten sick, nor has Ryan. It his urine gets on a open wound, there is probably a risk.

One of the nurses at his rehab facility told me that washing was better than gloves since the gloves are in the same room as the patient and exposed not only to his germs, but those of anyone touching the box without washing first. She also expressed the need for patients for skin to skin contact. How would you feel if no one was willing to touch you without putting on gloves? Washing before and after contact is the answer.

Ryan got his infection by doing bowel program in the bed (no option at that time) with a foley (again, no option at that time). I do still think that better hygiene could have prevented it (securing the foley area so that no contact with stool was possible). My big fear is that if he ever an inpatient again and they test him, it is back to isolation even though he has carried this for almost two years and no one has gotten sick. We used to joke that we were going to take the foley hose and swing it around the room to make them properly clean in the unit. Watching the cleaning person every day make me understand that they are not as diligent as I am in my kitchen and my kitchen is not a trauma unit.--eak

[Patty41]

I got C-Diff while in ICU. Several years later my, otherwise healthy young sister-in-law (age 34), had surgery to reverse a temporary colostomy and acquired C-Diff in the same ICU. She became septic, was in a coma, on a ventilator, and died 3months later (last November). My baby brother and her had only been married for 2 1/2 years and their first baby was only 8 months old at the time of her death.

It really does make me nervous about needing surgery or to be hospitalized...

WOW--what a horrible and tragic story. So sorry for your family's loss!!

[Patty41]

On my first remark that she needed to wash her hands, she asked me if I was going to buy her hand lotion because washing her hands made them too dry.

she went off on a rant that included a lecture that she was a hundred times more likely to 'catch something nasty' from me than I am from her. I promptly reported her to doctor who directed the ER, who just happened to be on duty that night.

There is no excuse for patients needing to educate medical professionals about the need for hand hygiene and monitor their compliance with it.

I sincerely hope this nurse was disciplined severely for her actions. As you say--there is NO excuse for this type of inappropriate behavior. If soft, pretty hands is her priority, over the health and well being of her patients, she needs to be fired so she can sit at home and lotion her hands all day. I'd report that kind on non-sense to her board of nursing. Even if she denies the statement, your statement will be part of the public record of her being investigated. Then, if in the future, a similar complaint is alleged, the board will be required to, at the very least, reprimande her license, which too will be available for the public to view. As a nurse, I don't want to see any health care provider unjustly accused of wrong doing, but the board is a powerful tool when a serious and willful violation has been committed.