CLEAN HANDS (REVISITED).

CLEAN HANDS (REVISITED). I posted earlier here and here about efforts to reduce infections in hospitals by getting hospital personnel to wash their hands more frequently (I had suggested the random use of petri dishes). In an article in the weekend Financial Times (October 27/28), Doctor Margaret McCartney questioned the emphasis on hand washing because she says that studies show that the spread of MRSA (“superbugs”) can be addressed more effectively by cleaning surfaces in hospitals that are rarely cleaned. Studies show that toilets, floors and sinks, which are cleaned regularly, are OK. The problems come from telephones, emergency call buttons, curtains or cabinets that are rarely cleaned. (A doctor washes his hands and then touches a curtain). One epidemic in an English hospital was stopped by doubling the cleaning time of the ward and having medical hardware routinely cleaned.