CUTTING "SUPER BUGS" DOWN TO SIZE - ONE COMPANY IS LEADING THE WAY
INNOVATIVE, SIMPLE TECHNOLOGY IS HELPING TO SAVE LIVES
THE GREAT HEALTHCARE CONUNDRUM!
WHY ARE PEOPLE LEAVING DOCTORS’ OFFICES AND HOSPITALS SICKER THAN WHEN THEY CAME IN?
WHY ARE PEOPLE DYING?
March 29, 2012 -- The last thing most anyone can imagine is a visit to the doctor or a stay in a hospital that leaves you sicker than when you came in. But, that’s what’s happening throughout the United States in almost epidemic proportions.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) every year 1,900,000 people contract infections in hospitals, (Hospital Acquired Infections - HAIs) and well over 99,000 die as a result; more deaths than from AIDS, breast cancer and auto accidents combined. The so-called “bad bugs” behind many HAIs are so insidious, they can be found lurking practically anywhere within a healthcare facility. Several new studies show that healthcare professionals’ scrubs, lab coats and stethoscopes are carriers of deadly bacteria such as methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile (C. diff) that easily can be transmitted to patients.
How Can You Avoid Becoming a Germ Statistic?
It may be as simple as asking your doctor if he has cleaned his stethoscope before examining you. It turns out a lot of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals forget to do this one simple thing that could prevent transmission of disease-carrying bacteria from one person to another. A Texas-based company called Cleanint has developed a product called Cleanstethoscope to help make it easier for medical professionals to protect their patients. But patients themselves need to be part of the awareness-raising process. Cleanstethoscope is a totally revolutionary concept. It is comprised of three parts: a small plastic holder that houses a sponge filled with ingredients such as benzalkonium chloride that clean the “bell” or round part of the stethoscope that makes contact with the patient’s bare chest or back, and a magnet allowing the medical professional to house the unit on the most convenient part of their clothing. Attaching this simple device to a lab coat, for instance, allows a doctor or nurse to quickly swish the stethoscope’s bell in the highly effective solution for a few seconds between patient visits. This simple act can save lives!
Patient Awareness is Key
In this age of “super-bugs” that are extremely resistant to antibiotics, patients and their families need to be on the lookout for possible sources of contamination. Did the person examining you wash their hands? Did they put on fresh gloves? If you’re in a hospital, does everyone who comes in contact with you wash their hands first? It’s about empowerment. To protect your health and sometimes your life, you need to ask questions.
According to Dr. Charles Denham, a founder and Chairman of the Texas Medical Institute of Technology* (TMIT), a non-profit medical research organization, dedicated to drive adoption of clinical solutions in patient safety and healthcare performance improvement, more awareness is critical to help prevent patients from contracting or dying from healthcare acquired infections.**
What Else Is Being Done?
No one is recommending donning gloves and a mask whenever you’re away from home, but increasingly experts recognize that very simple steps can be lifesaving. Some hospitals, for instance, are using a simple device called a Cleanpen that attaches to patients’ charts and “white boards” (the erasable chart located in many patient rooms in hospitals). The pen is automatically sterilized when removed from the base, preventing inadvertent transmission of bacteria from patient to patient by the medical professional making notes on the chart.
“Many people when placed in the position of becoming ‘a patient,’ automatically fear alienating the doctors or nurses by asking questions. Family members also face this problem,” says Tuan Dam, founder of Cleanint. “No one in the profession denies there’s a problem, but we all have to work together to make changes, so fewer people get secondary infections and less people die. You have to ask questions and the first one has to be “Did you clean your stethoscope?” He continues, “I have received mail from several mothers with chronically ill children who are adamant that no one touch their children under anything but sterile circumstances. We can all learn from them.”
Containment is a Big Issue
“Change never comes easily or quickly, but we are facing dire statistics that can’t be ignored. To think that the medical institutions need to initiate all the safe practice changes is to not have a voice in forcing modifications that can protect all of us,” says Mr. Dam.
For more information visit www.cleanint.com.
* TMIT does not endorse any products or services
**http://safetyleaders.org/pdf/Denham_The_Chasing_Zero_Dptmt_JPS2009-5(4)210-215-Prepub_LTR.pdf
Contact: Suzanne Lane
The Lane Communications Group
Email: slane@thelcgroup.com
212-757-6880
Tags:
