healthlady Profile

Member Since: 11/15/2007

1 Forum Posts

• In Which Sam Gets Taken For a Ride (11/15/2007)

  I enjoyed the November 14, 2007 episode of Private Practice (PP), “In Which Sam …”, because of its warmth, sensitivity, and complex mix of ‘hug me’ emotions among and across the menagerie of permissible characters. As a public health educator, I enjoy medical dramas for its educational value. I listen intently for the not so overt PSA messages.

  I was a bit put off by characters, ‘Dell’ and ‘Naomi’s’ noncompliance with the World Health Organizations (WHO) and Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care (advanced draft, October 2005)1. There was an obvious gaping hole in Dell’s protective glove as the camera panned to him holding the newborn baby boy. This is one reason why it is important to wash hands before putting on protective latex gloves. Latex rips because of the stress of wear or improper fit. Even if fictional, some less enthusiastic hand washers may interpret the donning of latex gloves sans handwashing (i.e., handwashing with soap and water, or use of waterless alcohol-based hand rub) as appropriate. This is a big no, no for medical personnel.

  Hospital infections affect 2 million individuals a year in the United states2 and result in 80,000 deaths a year in the U.S.3 Physicians, nursing assistants, and men are less likely to wash hands in the clinical setting. In fact, health care professionals, generally have a less than 50%4 handwashing compliance rate. So important is handwashing or hand disinfecting to patient safety, that on May 18, 2002, the WHO passed resolution WHA55.18: Quality of Care: Patient Safety. A critical goal of the patient safety resolution is to reduce the occurrence for cross-transmission of nosocomial or hospital related infections, which are on the increase, such as hospital acquired (or healthcare associated) Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (Ha-MRSA).

  So, please post handwashing compliance hand hygiene posters, near handsinks and faucets for example, in order to appear more real-like, to help the WHO and CDC reduce morbidity and mortality risk from preventable illness and disease. I will keep watching PP as long as writers continue to depict African American characters, Naomi and Sam, engaged in riotous coitus. America needed to see this.   References: http://www.cdc.gov/MMWR/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5116a1.htm http://www.shea-online.org/Assets/files/IHI_Hand_Hygiene.pdf http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no2/pittet.htm