Dr Safety

Today's entry is adapted from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention... Many people are prescribed antibiotics without good reason. This may lead to resistance of bacteria, overgrowth of harmful bacteria in the gut, and possibly even death. Taking medications unnecessarily exposes one to the harmful side effects and drug-drug interactions of these medications without the benefit. The CDC is trying to prevent these problems by educating patients and physicians regarding the proper use of antibiotics. Next time your doctor prescribes an antibiotic ask questions like: What disease/infection are treating me for? Is there a clinical guideline you are following? Is my infection actually bacterial? What can I do to prevent antibiotic associated diarrhea? How do I take this medicine safely? Will it interact with my current medications? What are the side effects I can expect? From CDC: "Upper respiratory infections account for three quarters of all antibiotics prescribed by off

It cannot be emphasized enough how important hand hygiene is to quality healthcare. In our last post we spoke about the 99,000 people who die every year from healthcare associated infections. Failure to clean one's hands before and after patient care is usually at the center of most of these cases. Patients and their families must speak up and demand that doctors and nurses stop and wash their hands prior to examining them or performing other procedures. Infections caused by staph and clostridium difficile are rampant in our hospitals - yet usually preventable if hospital staff, visitors and yes, even patients, wash their hands. It sounds obsessive but the problem is too serious to be taken lightly. Gloves are not a substitute for cleaning one's hands. Hands must be cleaned prior to and after wearing gloves. We all learned to wash our hands prior to eating and after using the bathroom, yet our healthcare workers must be reminded of this fact in America's hospitals. Do not l

1,700,000 people are afflicted with healthcare associated infections every year in the United States. 99,000 of those Americans die due to these mostly preventable infections. Of the 1.7 million people infected secondary to their healthcare, 562,000 people are diagnosed with healthcare associated urinary tract infections (uti) annually. This represents 32% of all healthcare associated infections, making uti one of the most common hospital acquired conditions. Over 80% of these patients have had a urinary catheter that has preceded the infection. The Centers for Disease Control [CDC] predicts that the rate of uti is 100% for hospital inpatients with an open indwelling urinary catheter for 4 days or more. Adherence to the proper asceptic precautions when inserting the catheter and maintenance of the closed system of drainage may reduce the infection rate to 25%. However, this risk is still high and it is important to use urinary catheters only when medically indicated. The CDC recommends