This Just In ...
Kevin Fischer is a veteran broadcaster, the recipient of over 150 major journalism awards from the Milwaukee Press Club, the Wisconsin Associated Press, the Northwest Broadcast News Association, the Wisconsin Bar Association, and others. He has been seen and heard on Milwaukee TV and radio stations for over three decades. A longtime aide to state Senate Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature, Kevin can be seen offering his views on the news on the public affairs program, "InterCHANGE," on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10, and heard filling in on Newstalk 1130 WISN. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, and their lovely baby daughter, Kyla Audrey, in Franklin.
What's up Doc? Aren't you going to wash up?
I remember the Cryptosporidium outbreak in the Milwaukee in the mid-90’s, having managed the radio news coverage of that issue at WTMJ.Jay Marvin (remember him, the midday talk show host pre-Charlie Sykes?) was instructed by the Program Director to voice a public service announcement that we aired frequently, reminding people to wash their hands. That seemed so strange, to have to tell people when they had to wash up.
Of course, maybe more reminders are in order, given that so many men especially are pigs.
One would expect such reminders are unnecessary for health care practitioners who are surrounded by germs and instruments in need of sterilization.
Guess again.
MSNBC.com reports:
“Doctors, nurses and other hospital staffers too busy, too distracted — or, sometimes, too arrogant — to wash up are the target of a growing movement aimed at cutting rates of hospital-acquired infections that kill nearly 100,000 people in the U.S. each year, according to federal estimates.
At best, hospital staffers wash adequately about half the time, repeated studies show.
In hundreds of hospitals across the country, patients are being urged to speak up when workers fail to scrub. Posters in patient rooms, tray-top cards, brochures, buttons and direct invitations from staff all deliver the same reminder: “It’s OK to ask.”
Workers’ reasons for not washing range from simple forgetfulness to being too busy to pause between patients. Others rely on gloves, forgetting that they need to scrub before donning them. And a few doctors and other health workers seem to believe they’re immune to basic rules of sanitation.
National guidelines say they’re supposed to use alcohol-based hand rubs or soap and warm water for at least 15 seconds before and after every direct contact with a patient, with excretions, or with contaminated surfaces or objects. Too often, however, they don’t.”
Read more.
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