Educated to Death

If these front-line professionals haven't learned how to wash their hands, they certainly shouldn't be touching sick people.

CBC:

The cash-strapped Vancouver Island Health Authority is spending $130,000 to teach front-line medical workers how to wash their hands properly.

For the next two months, seven educators will teach refresher courses in Vancouver Island hospitals and community-care facilities, making sure that staff know how to effectively use soap and sanitizing gels to kill germs.

Wouldn't it just be cheaper to send out an email?

A recent investigation by CBC Marketplace showed some doctors and other health professionals are lax when it comes to hospital hygiene.

Marketplace found that one in nine hospital patients gets infections from germs they pick up during their care, and about 8,000 Canadians die of hospital infections every year.

The program aired secretly shot video of a Vancouver doctor touching a table in a contagious person's room and not washing his hands after, and a nurse who changed the bandages on an open wound and did not wash her hands.

The doctor and the nurse certainly know how to wash their hands, they just didn't. Throwing $130,000 into make work training programs isn't going to do a damn thing to prevent negligent and stupid behaviour like that. In the meantime, the health care ration line grows longer still.

I, Lisa, multicultural resident of London and Mitchieville, and founding member of *BITCH*, contributed this special public service announcement because, like Fenris, I care about your wallet.