Don't Ignore the Life Saving Information in Small Print

 

Articles We Can't Ignore

There are many academic articles and newspaper reports that we may read, say “wow” and then move on.  Sometimes we won’t read them at all.  But there lies the problem, one I have been trying to address for 25 years.

Here is a perfect example.  This article titled    Candida auris Rapidly Recontaminates Surfaces Around Patients’ Beds Despite Cleaning and Disinfection discusses how hospital rooms are recontaminated with germs after a cleaning,  “Environmental surfaces near C auris-colonized patients were rapidly recontaminated after cleaning/disinfection.”

The reason this matters to the ordinary person with no medical training or infectious disease background, is because as a patient advocate, I wipe down the patient’s room with disinfectant before and after a patient is treated.  I am often told by staff, “we cleaned that already.”  But it doesn’t matter.  We don’t know how well the cleaning is and thanks to the research that is done, but too often ignored, here are the facts that the cleaning isn’t done as well as they want us to believe. 

In this case, according to the Centers for Disease Control, candida auris is an emerging fungus that presents a serious global health threat. It is often multidrug-resistant, meaning that it is resistant to multiple antifungal drugs commonly used to treat Candida infections. Some strains are resistant to all three available classes of antifungals.

Though we may not be able to kill all germs as an active patient advocate or caregiver, the more we try by being involved and not an observer in our safety, the better off we will be.