Hospital Workers Don't Wash The Hands Frequently: so much for concern for the patient's well-being

Studies have shown that without encouragement, hospital workers wash their hands as little as 30 percent of the time that they interact with patients. So in addition to the video snooping, hospitals across the country are training hand-washing coaches, handing out rewards like free pizza and coffee coupons, and admonishing with “red cards.” They are using radio-frequency ID chips that note when a doctor has passed by a sink, and undercover monitors, who blend in with the other white coats, to watch whether their colleagues are washing their hands for the requisite 15 seconds, as long as it takes to sing the “Happy Birthday” song.

All this effort is to coax workers into using more soap and water, or alcohol-based sanitizers like Purell.

“This is not a quick fix; this is a war,” said Dr. Bruce Farber, chief of infectious disease at North Shore.

But the incentive to do something is strong: under new federal rules, hospitals will loseMedicare money when patients get preventable infections.

~New York Times

And people wonder why they end up back in the hospital repeatedly or just can't seem to get better. Its a dirty place anyway, but for doctors and nurses to not do simple hand-cleaning on a regular basis for the protection of the patient is unacceptable.  I've even seen our old pediatrician's gloved hands handle all sorts of things in the office and then touch my daughter. I was astonished because it showed that the gloves were merely for his protection, not the health of my daughter. That was a wake up call!

Its pitiful if it takes BRIBING to get "health professionals" to do basic health hygiene. That is part of protocol and should not be rewarded. Rather they should be fired if they can't follow policy and common sense. That's like bribing a 5th grader for doing what is merely expected of him: turning in his homework.  Furthermore, how pitiful that merely the lack of Medicare money is the incentive to do what is common sense for the patient. It demonstrates yet again that this is not about the well-being of the patient, but merely about MONEY.