INFOGRAPHIC: U.S. Hospitals Are Hazardous, Germ-Infested Places

[FarCenter]

Did you know you're 33,000x more likely to die from a hospital error than a plane crash?

Yikes. Maybe that's why the United States ranks last out of 19 developed nations in preventable deaths at hospitals.

Before you let that sleep-deprived intern or germy doctor get their hands on you, check out some other pretty scary statistics about U.S. medical centers provided by the folks at Medical Billing and Coding Certification.

http://www.businessinsider.com/infographic-us-hospitals-arent-nearly-as-safe-as-you-think-2011-9

So much for "the world's best medical system".

[madokie]

1. I just don't believe that

I have a brother in the hospital as I type and its clean enough to eat off the floors or the walls or hell anything in there, It just smells like soap clean. A few years ago I spent a week in the hospital and I didn't see any of what this is saying. This is shit like republicons like to read and send to and from each other, nothing for us to take seriously. Sure there may be some and I'm sure there are but for the most part thats not the case

[druidity33]

3. sure, i'll take your

anecdotal experiences over all the studies cited in that delightful graphic! Especially after my uncle just died from an infection and kidney failure due to hospital error!

:mad:

these are facts not up for debate...

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. I am sorry for your loss

and sadly you are correct.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. And I woudl not try that

While it smells like that... hospitals have a few bugs that are known as superbugs, and resist just about everything.

When I injured myself in the hospital, we did not sugar coat it... third gen antibiotics, that with the same injury anywhere else would have meant just about any antibiotic. Yes it was in Mexico, but we were aware of this due to the emerging literature on this in the 1980s, which is when this superbugs started to emerge. These days it is a recognized problem... world wide, or at least in the First World, and protocols change to maintain places clean... not sterile, just clean.

And it also depends on the hospital. Some are far better at this than others.

[FarCenter]

6. The Direct Medical costs of Healthcare-Associated Infections in U.S. Hospitals and the Benefits of P

The Direct Medical costs of Healthcare-Associated Infections in U.S. Hospitals and the Benefits of Prevention

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/pdf/Scott_CostPaper.pdf

Table 3 of this report from the Center for Disease Control cites the statistic of 1.7 million healthcare-associated infections.

[dgibby]

8. I'm a retired RN.

Some of the worst pathogens grow in the soap dispensers. Believe me, the article is true.

[Gregorian]

2. My cousin in law is a dental surgeon in SF. He did a study on the water supply in dental offices

His findings were that all of the irrigation water supplies in the offices he looked at were worse than taking water right out of a toilet.

[amborin]

7. 60% of Docs & Nurses Won't Wash Their Hands!

"A new study has a message for doctors and nurses who fail to wash their hands: Don’t think about yourself. Think about your patients.

Getting health care professionals to comply with notices to wash their hands before and after dealing with patients has been something of a thorn in the side of many hospitals. Although this simple measure limits the spread of sickness — and could potentially reduce the nation’s hospital health care bill by billions of dollars — many doctors and nurses simply ignore it. Compliance rates for hand washing in American hospitals are only around 40 percent, and years of awareness programs urging doctors to wash up or use disinfectant gels have had little effect...."


http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/01/getting-doctors-to-wash-their-hands/?hpw#


I saw this last week; a doctor had the sniffles, wiped her nose on her hand! Coughed, sneezed, then proceeded to touch and examine a patient without washing her hands!

I had to stifle myself.

[applegrove]

9. My cousin's husband went into a Toronto hospital for a hip operation and got C dificile. So it isn't

just in the USA.

[Enthusiast]

10. "So it isn't just in the USA."

Just mostly.

[Enthusiast]

11. Yeah.

I contracted staph in a hospital after surgery. I became very sick with severe nausea, flue-like symptoms and massive swelling at the surgical site. Oral antibiotics would do nothing. After emergency surgery they gave me extremely expensive and huge doses of intravenous antibiotics. That was years ago, before the superbugs evolved.

[w8liftinglady]

12. Unfortunately, I work with just that.

I work in Long-Term acute care... people who have medical needs extending beyond a regular hospital stay.
Most of my patients are surgical wound infections who require long-term antibiotics.

EVERY patient I have is on some type of isolation. I gown and glove for every one...and wash my hands (or foam them) before entering and exiting the room.

No exceptions.