Medical Malpractice

Why are hospitals so dirty? Hot dog manufacturers have to pass cleanliness by the BOH. Why not hospitals.?

Why do so many patients die from hospital aquired infections? Because the hospitals are dirty. Doctors do not change their lab coats sometimes for a month. The blood pressure machine carries bacterier to each patient because they are not clean and they are used on several patients without having them cleaned. Because the staff does not wash their hands properly. Over 100,000 patients die each year from hospital infections. What should we doooo?

Public Comments

1. It's probably best to question the necessity of a surgery, and avoid the hospital like the plague, because it sounds like hospitals ARE the plague?
2. ive an idea, lets all move to canada. Suzan K- Yes I do. Health care here in TN sucks!
3. Do you think Canada is in a better condition? I dread going to the hospital.
4. I agree. Next time you are at a hospital..take a look around..and see how inconvenient it is for staff to wash their hands..as often as needed. The money is spent elsewhere. Like on leather furniture the Board-Room...and decorating the building...
5. I live in Canada so maybe it's different here but at the hospital we always disinfect the equipment in between rooms, change gloves and wash our hands.
6. hostpitals are cleaner than a lot of places, in fact most places. It is very difficult to contain all contaminations in a hospital with so many people close together and a large majority of them being ill.
7. Hospitals have to pass accreditation. In the US, there is a better support system for Infection Prevention and Control (IP&C)- we don't have that across Canada yet. Interesting timing of this question... there is actually a hospital in the UK that was cited with an improvement notice due to the lack of IP&C in the hospital. Canada is a little better than the US in numbers, but not much (we don't have as many patients dying from HAI). Patients don't die just because the hospitals are dirty. This is a confined place, where often several patients are crowded into rooms together (which, by the way, the AIA 2006 guidelines state new hospitals should be built with single patient rooms). There is equipment that is shared between patients without being cleaned between each piece, but this also isn't always practical. For instance, you give the example of the BP machine- there would need to be a cuff for each patient to be sure there is no cross contamination. Cuffs are expensive (in the hundred range)- and then you need enough for each patient, and then enough in case the cuff gets dirty (e.g., blood) and needs to be washed- need a replacement. We have to be practical. It certainly is important to try and clean each piece of equipment prior to each patient use. When this isn't possible, there needs to be an established cleaning schedule for each piece of equipment, where there is assigned responsiblity for the cleaning. The single most effective way to prevent the spread of infection is appropriate hand hygiene. In the US, and in Canada, we are educating patients to be more proactive. They have the right to ask each HCW if they've performed hand hygiene prior to caring for them. Until HCW realize the importance of IP&C, and hand hygiene, this will continue to happen, regardless of all the bundles and other initiatives created.