Generally, we go to the hospital when we are ill, hoping to be treated and totally relieved of our symptoms. However, would you know that the hospital is one of the most unsafe places to be when it comes to the possibility of getting infections?
This sounds incredible, but even health workers hardly contest the fact that you can get infections in the hospital environment. Here’s how it happens.
The doctor
Scientists warn that four out of five germs that cause illness are spread by hands. And that’s why health care providers are enjoined to regularly wash their hands with soap and water while at work, especially before they touch a fresh patient!
“This is one sure step we can take to prevent the spread of harmful germs,” says Family Physician, Dr. Chris Njoku. “This will not only prevent the health worker from falling sick due to the hazards of his job, it will also prevent the spread of germs from one patient to the other, or among hospital workers,” he adds.
While this is the ideal, Njoku agrees that physicians, nurses and everyone who has contact with a sick person in the hospital environment don’t follow this simple rule.
Ask the average patient, and they will tell you that they have never seen their physician wash his hands before doing physical examinations on them — including dipping hands in the patient’s private part when the need arises!
Of course, normally, the physician would wear a glove when it comes to that; but pray, is it too much for him to also wash his hands before touching another patient?
Njoku has a solution; he counsels, “Don’t be afraid to ask your physician to wash his hands first before touching you.”
He also warns that the situation is dire where an open wound is concerned. He says, for example, a woman who comes to the hospital to have her Caesarian Section wound dressed should be treated with caution, because if the open skin gets infected with bacteria, trouble might erupt.
He says a germ such as staphylococcus can infect openings in the skin, and patients can get it through any opening where a catheter enters their body, or through bed sores or foot ulcers.
“Once the staph germ enters the body, it can spread to bones, joints, the blood, or any organ, such as the lungs, heart, or brain. The infection can also spread easily from one person to another,” Njoku says.
He also draws attention to the equipment in use. “It goes without saying that every equipment that will be used on any patient must be scrupulously sanitised, which is only achievable through sterilisation and subsequent careful handling,” the physician says.
Patients like you
Where the problem is not due to your health care provider’s carelessness, you may return home from a hospital visit with infectious disease such as the flu, cough and chicken pox.
Experts say, again, this depends on the professionalism of your care givers. An epidemiologist, Dr. Habeeb Shekoni, says ideally, a patient must be tested before admission to determine if they carry germs that are resistant to common antibiotics.
“The test can be carried out by taking a swab from the nose and the throat, or through the laboratory examination of the faecal sample,” Shekoni enthuses.
He says that in the case of a patient who has a germ that is resistant to the common antibiotics, he should be taken care of in a special ward dedicated for such, instead of allowing him to stay in the general ward where other patients can be infected.
Shekoni notes, “By the time people present at the hospital, their immune system would have been compromised and any undue exposure to germs will only compound things. So, the care giver must be discreet in the way he handles each patient; while he must also monitor the way in-patients relate while on admission.”
Environment
Another physician, Dr. Ehi Idem, laments that most hospital environments are everything but what a hospital environment should be! From lack of pipe-borne water to crass negligence of overgrown bush that breeds mosquitoes, Ehi says it’s no wonder that some hospitals record high mortality rates that are absolutely preventable.
He warns, “The health of the hospital environment is very important, and that includes the wards and offices. They must be clean, they must be tidy.”
Hospital restroom
I hope nobody is fooled to think that because the restroom is in the hospital, it is germ-free? Hmm, think again: the sheer number of people who use the restroom — the majority of whom are ill, by the way — should be a red flag warning you to be mindful of how you go about using the facility!
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