Wishy, Washy, Wishy, Washy, Wishy, Washy, Weeeeeee!

When Jordan was small we attended a mommy and me-type music class. One of the songs was about washing hands and it was simply a continuation (over and over and over again) of the title you see above.

I, at the ripe ’ol age of about 25, was irritated by how dumb the song sounded to me. Jordan, however, loved it, and sang along cheerfully, so I played along. Little did I know that a full decade later that song would become my best friend.

This week is National Hand Washing Awareness Week (Dec. 2-8) and until my stint as a staff writer for Infection Control Today magazine — and the diagnosis of my daughter’s severe chronic neutropenia — I was somewhat irritated by the constant push and reminders to wash my hands. It dried out my hands … it took too much time … I haven’t touched too many things since I last washed them … the excuses were plentiful.

But now, armed with my acquired knowledge, I am nearly freakish about this whole handwashing thing — and for good reason, check this out:

In a study conducted in 2006, researchers solidified the hypothesis that persistence of pathogens on inanimate surfaces runs frighteningly high.¹ They found that most gram-positive bacteria, such as Enterococcus spp. (including vancomycin-resistant enterococci [VRE]), Staphylococcus aureus (including MRSA), and Streptococcus pyogenes, survive for months on dry surfaces. MRSA can survive for 11 days on a plastic patient chart, more than 12 days on a laminated tabletop and for nine days on a cloth curtain.²

The gram-negatives also hang around — Acinetobacter spp., Escherichia coli (E. coli), Klebsiella spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Serratia marcescens, and Shigella spp., all were found to have survived for months.² Other monthly settlers include mycobacteria, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and spore-forming bacteria such as Clostridium difficile (C. diff).

Viruses too stick around. Those from the respiratory tract, such as corona, coxsackie, influenza, SARS or rhino virus, can linger for a few days on certain surfaces; and viruses from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract — astrovirus, HAV, polio- or rota virus — linger for as long as two months. Blood-borne viruses, such as HBV or HIV, can persist for more than one week, and herpes viruses, have been shown to persist from only a few hours up to seven days.

This is gross.

You know what else is gross? Little kids’ hands. Ick! Read on at your own risk …

My daughter simply can not keep her hand out of her britches. She is pointing south at any given moment. She’s always been this way too, since birth, it’s amazing. My Brooklyn is Al Bundy through and through.

At first I simply let it go. “It’s just a phase, she’ll get over it.” Then, the habitual behavior began to concern me, but still, I reserved to say too much. Even her doctor advised to simply let it go.

Well, recently, it became a real problem. Brooklyn developed a yeast infection from a round of antibiotics and through her habit, she in turn acquired thrush. I knew something was bound to eventually occur from this … and ewwwwwwww, how gross is the transfer of Candida albicans from down there to the mouth? She even had a bunch of little dots/spots on her skin around her mouth area.

And there’s only one way it could have gotten there — her filthy little paws.

She too often doesn’t see the sense in constant handwashing. So, my savior has been that little aforementioned ditty. We sing it loud and we sing it proud. And because we have something to make it fun, it’s easier to get that stubborn, strong-willed, overly-independent little 2-year-old princess to wash her hands when I want her to do it.

So, please, share with us how you get your little ones’ paws clean. Young or old, we know the challenge …

References

1. Kramer A, Schwebke I, Kampf G. How long do nosocomial pathogens persist on inanimate surfaces? A systematic review. BMC Infect Dis. 2006 Aug 16;6:130.

2. Huang R, Mehta S, Weed D, Price CS. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus survival on hospital fomites. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2006 Nov;27(11):1267-9.

My “Urinalysis on Urine”

Ah Ha! She gets it. She finally gets it! It is so incredibly awesome when a little one finally understands. Isn’t it?

As I have mentioned in past blog entries, we’ve been trying to potty train No. 2. That first time she ever peed in her potty was certainly an exciting day for me. Since, however, the excitement has faded and the battle has been waged.

After facing accident after accident (which translates into bath after bath — and several new mops), we finally have success!

All of the sudden, on a Saturday two weeks ago, she got it! It’s like the light bulb suddenly lit up and it all finally clicked. She now recognizes the urge to pee and she acts upon it. Beautiful!

I have to say, all of this peeing all over everywhere has had me worried. Besides the smell, just how icky is pee-pee, anyway? Urine is a byproduct secreted by the kidneys, transported by the ureters to the urinary bladder, and then voided through the urethra.

Urination is the primary method for excreting toxins, chemicals and drugs from the body, and these things are filtered by the kidneys from our blood and intestinal fluids. Urine contains large amounts of urea. Urea, they say, is an excellent source of nitrogen for plants. Urine is also noted as a useful accelerator for compost. Quite interesting, really, because to me, it ties into the whole “Circle of Life” thing. (Yes, the children watch Lion King way too often.) It also solidifies that one person’s trash really is another’s treasure.

But I digress.

The whole purpose of this blog about urine is to show how something seemly so bad can actually turn into something very beneficial. Here’s the “Urinalysis on Urine Usage”: (Source: Wikipedia)

Urine is made up of a watery solution of metabolic wastes, dissolved salts and organic materials. It is interesting to note the historic uses of urine:

*Aztec physicians used urine to clean external wounds to prevent infection and administered it as a drink to relieve stomach and intestine problems

*The ancient Romans used urine as a bleaching agent for cleaning clothes

*A few people in what is now Spain used it as a teeth whitener

*In Scotland, it was used to wash wool to prevent it from shrinking

Furthermore, Hermogenes wrote about the color and other attributes of urine as indicators of certain diseases. Diabetes mellitus got its name because the urine is plentiful and sweet.

Personally, I still prefer all urine simply make its way to the potty. Now, on to the poopy part …

The Month of the Hero

October is best known as breast cancer awareness month, but October holds times of other very important recognitions. This week is Infection Prevention week and last week was Central Service week.

I’d like to take this time to thank those two very important healthcare niche groups who strive to keep us safe and free from secondary, complicated and fatal infections while we are in the healthcare setting.

The average American does not generally know what these “unsung heroes” do in their daily jobs; what role they actually play in the grand scheme of the healthcare realm. So, please allow me to take a moment to honor these individuals by raising awareness of their role in our lives.

What exactly do these wonderfully skilled individuals do? They save our lives. Plain and simple. They are tasked with a very tall order, eh? Let me explain.

Infection prevention in the healthcare setting is spearheaded by a system’s infection control practitioner or ICP. An ICP is charged with ensuring every patient, healthcare worker and visitor stays safe and free from infection. This is quite the challenge in today’s world. With resistant organisms and scarier and more fierce infections, an ICP certainly has their work cut out for them. The second facet to their job is education, so they are also charged with educating the entire system’s staff on things such as hand washing and other infection prevention techniques.

Those in central service do a number of things as well. Their area is often termed the “hub” of a hospital. The most important charge for this fine group of hospital personnel is that of cleaning, disinfecting and sterilizing all of the instruments used in an operating room and for other invasive procedures.

Both groups are terribly under recognized (and central service, in particular, is also grossly underpaid) and I would like to see that change.

These unsung heroes are incredibly important to me. Not only because I write about them and their respective duties and have come to both admire and respect what they do, but because I have a susceptible daughter and I know that what they do helps to keep my daughter alive.

So, this week — and the other 55 weeks of the year — take the time to learn what these very important people do, and perhaps if you run across one of them, you can thank them for all they do for all of us.

That’s what I’d like to say to each and every one of them: “Many, many thanks!”

In closing, I would like to mention that our sponsor/sister publication, Infection Control Today magazine (ICT) will feature its annual Who’s Who in the December issue. It’s not too late to submit nominations for your favorite ICP or central service personnel. Please, send your nominations to kpyrek@vpico.com.

Here’s to remaining safe and free from infection for all the weeks and months to come …