From the August 2016 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
To compound the problem, most facilities are operating with minimal in-house maintenance technicians and more work is being outsourced to specialty contractors. Manufacturers of specialized equipment used in hospitals often require their own technicians to perform maintenance. For instance, no-touch automatic door openers require maintenance by the manufacturer. All this adds up to more people working in the hospital with no medical training and no idea of how their work can cause problems for patients. The table on this page points out quantitative examples of how routine maintenance or construction work can cause infections and even lead to death.
Two years ago I gave a presentation on HAIs to the maintenance department at a large metropolitan medical complex. I explained how bacteria and fungi hitch a ride on migrating dust and how its migration can affect patients with low immune tolerance conditions. We discussed simple things like vibrations from drilling, opening ceiling tiles and cutting into drywall. Afterward, a few of the maintenance attendees mentioned they had been working in the hospital for more than a decade and no one ever took the time to explain how their work could cause an HAI.
My father died due to an infection. His routine operation turned into a more complicated one when his arm swelled due to an IV insertion. Rather than getting back to work as planned, he returned to the hospital where they opened the infected wound the entire length of his forearm. Complications continued to develop and he was alive for only six more days. This is a case where an accident occurred under the direction of medically trained personnel. It happens and it impacts families.
About the author: Thom Wellington is the CEO and a stockholder in Infection Control University, a company that provides staff training programs and control processes for infectious microorganisms in hospitals, clinics, long-term care facilities and other health care-related institutions.Back to HCB News
