I am chronic believer of the “sit, wait, watch, see philosophy”.. and I like to sit and look as to what is really happening in police stations, hospitals, doctor’s offices, emergency clinics, government offices, churches too.. it is really an eye opener and a learning experience.. Now after being a half a century in Canadian Hospitals I thought I saw it all.. Until I sat this week visiting a person in a serious sick, troubled persons ward at the Pointe Claire, West island Hospital, Lake Shore General Hospital, Pointe-Claire is a municipality located on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada… and for the first time I also had no complaints… but praise for I really could not believe what I saw, the real extra effort that the medical, support staff gave to all the patients, some of them very elderly too. Now if all Hospital departments were like this.. it would be heavenly.
Hospital death rates and the related causes are a major cause for concern still. As basic and common sense as it may seem all doctors and nurses, support staff on a daily, continual basis do need also to ensure their own personal hygiene, cleanliness in medical care, at all times too, but they still for sure do not.. Imagine this also the Doctors, nurses, staff wearing their own dirty clothes in Hospitals, many do not even use a lab coat or a clean uniform, scrubs anymore.. unsatisfactory hygiene. Saving money on medical scrubs costs millions in sick patients. No matter that some of the sickness, diseases are brought to the hospital by the patients themselves, it next must not be allowed to spread through the Hospital.. Many people get more sick as a result in emergency rooms, hospitals . This is Unacceptable. The spread of C. difficile infection, Sepsis disease is at a greater risk in hospitals or other places such as nursing homes where there are many people in close contact with one another. Hospital employees next having their own locked toilets, does not help the overall problem now too.. it merely is a still unacceptable admission there exist a problem here.
-All medical staff must follow the hospital antibiotic prescribing policy and taking care that broad spectrum antibiotics are not given unnecessarily .
-They all must wear disposable gloves and aprons, disposable lab coats, scrubs, when treating sick patients and those who have C. difficile infection and when dealing with, or cleaning equipment that could be contaminated (eg bedpans).
-There must be regularly cleaning the hospital environment, including floors and surfaces, with disinfectant or detergent to get rid of spores, infections.
-They must insure the keeping seriously sick patients, especially those who have C. difficile infection in isolation from those who don’t.
Keeping clean and washing one’s hands often are also essential
Too many Canadian professionals, workers next become too lax when they do think they have attained some kind of job security and fail to do their duties fully too, towards all others.
Public exposure and prosecution of the guilty is one of the best approach serving everyone’s best interest too. Cover-up, and denials are a sad fact of life in Canada especially by our civil and public servants, including cops, doctors, hospitals, professionals, politicians, PM Stephen Harper as well.. and needless to say Doctors and Hospital have not kept good figures on the number of deaths even in Hospitals, and their causes too willingly too, and what about those discharged persons who have died outside of the Hospital too? The causes of death are hard to determine especially when the governments have falsely cut back on the money available for autopsies Canada wide too. All professionals, cops, Governments too sadly are known to hide bad things from the public.
“There’s so many opportunities for lapses, so even a small percentage of times when maybe things don’t happen as they should, can translate into a substantial number of cases. It is unbelievable that in today’s society some medical staff no longer wear clean uniforms while working in Hospitals but instead do wear their ordinary clothes , like I saw a nurse do so last week at the McGill Royal Victoria Hospital, and this is unacceptable, it can encourage the spread of diseases, since these clothes cannot be simply removed and replaced like a lab coat can be.” Further simple measures such as hand washing and adequately cleaning the equipment and rooms can seriously prevent the spread of infection that can lead to sepsis. Some serious Infections can be also airborne transmitted as well as the standard contact transmission, and no serious disease should be taken lightly by anyone. Most often the best Prevention includes Clean garments, and regular Hand washing. Soap and water is the most effective measure and Alcohol-based products may be used but are generally less effective since Alcohol has no effect on spores but mechanical action of hand-washing may help get rid of them. All hospital srufeces do need to be cleaned daily too. And Eliminating or reducing the associated disease risk factors is also still essential. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/id_CdiffFAQ_HCP.html#10
“Another simple change would be to have hand-washing facilities easily available in the hospital cafeteria. Here I have never seen a hand-washing sink in the eating area. So, when people go to eat their meals in the cafeteria, they touch many door handles that are rich reservoirs for germs, they handle money, and then they sit down to eat, which is an open invitation to colonize their gut with resistant bacteria, which they can then easily pass on to someone else, such as a patient. It seems such an obvious improvement to have a hand-washing sink in the eating area so that busy hospital personnel can try to keep themselves from becoming a link in the chain of infection.”
Not doing enough about C-dificile, or shit disease can lead to more serious medical-personal problems and can lead to the more serious Sepsis problme which can seriously cause more personal harm, result in extensive tissue damage, organ failure or death to the persons with minor infections, such as the flu or urinary tract infections, and to strike people with serious wounds, extremely weakened immune systems Early diagnosis and treatment of sepsis with antibiotics also improves the chances of recovery. But all this take money and real effort now too. Hospital staff too often want to get paid but do not want to meet their full responsibility , and these type of persons should be immediately fired for the good of all too..
Clostridium difficile–associated disease (CDAD) is used to describe a constellation of illnesses caused by the toxins, A and B, produced by the C difficile bacillus Factors such as predominant use of high risk antibiotics, reduction in house cleaning staff, increased nursing workloads, antiquated facilities, and general changes in hospital populations (ie, increased number of immuno compromised, debilitated, and elderly patients) may also be contributing factors to resistance of treatments. Clostridium difficile is an anaerobic, spore-forming, gram-positive bacillus. The spores are resistant to many types of disinfectants, heat, and dryness and may persist for months on surfaces such as bed rails, commodes, electronic thermometers, stethoscopes, skin folds, and the hands of caregivers. The spores can cause disease in persons at high risk for CDAD. Three elements are required for prevention of CDAD: proper hand washing, contact isolation, and environmental measures. Spores of C difficile tend to thrive on uncleaned hospital surfaces. For that reason, stringent daily cleaning of all hospital surfaces likely to be contaminated with feces is essential. A hypochlorite-based disinfectantor a 1:10 bleach solution is recommended. Frequently touched surfaces such as doorknobs, light switches, call lights, television remote control devices, soap dispensers, faucets, bed rails, and telephones also require thorough daily cleaning. Hospital policies regarding dedicated equipment, dishes, linens, waste, and patient transport should be in place and enforced. Non disposable equipment such as glucose meters, cardiac monitors and electrocardiography and x-ray machines should be disinfected according to manufacturers’ guidelines. “It can be safely concluded that all of these treatments work some of the time, none work all of the time.” Hygiene care and vigilance are always still essential. Proper treatment and Prevention of dehydration is essential for patients with CDAD. Prevention is also the most important treatment. – Maria E. Pelleschi
Today, blood culture and culture techniques are the gold standard for detection of a medical infection. The turnaround time for culture/blood culture is lengthy, ranging from 48 to 72 hours. As a result, this can often be too late for many sick people if the disease has not been diagnosed even sooner.. or of it had not been prevented..
“My brother is currently a patient at UVA for the 5th week due to a severe case of sepsis. He already had his all his toes on both feet amputated along with part of his right foot. He will lose 3/4 of his index finger and some fingertips. We had never heard of sepsis before this. His PCP was treating him for a virus. He was going back to PCP for the 3rd or 4th time when he collaped in the doctors office. He was then transported to the ER where they diagnosised him. Only through the grace of GOD he is still with us. He has a long, long road to recovery ahead of him.”
http://www.thedoctorstv.com/forums/115-July-29-2-9-Silent-Health-Threats-You-Didn-t-Know-About/topics/3316?page=1
Sepsis last year resulted in about 30,587 hospitalizations and 9,320 deaths in Canadian hospitals excluding Quebec, In comparison, there were 30,542 hospitalizations for strokes in 2007-08, with some 6,423 deaths. Of the 49,220 hospitalizations for heart attacks, about 5,684 people died. in almost one-quarter of 2008-09 sepsis cases, patients were diagnosed after being admitted to hospital. Those who developed sepsis while in hospital were 56 per cent more likely to die than those diagnosed with sepsis before they were admitted to hospital. It is expected that the results for Quebec are just as bad if not worse.
Another common way of becoming sepsis is an oral/dental source such as a tooth infection..
Overuse of antibiotics is building widespread resistance and threatening to halt vital medical treatments such as hip replacements, intensive care for premature babies and cancer therapies, health experts say. A 2002 survey that showed 60 percent of patients do not know that antibiotics do not work against viruses like flu and colds.” Patients often demand antibiotics,” she said. And doctors often think, she said, that giving in is a quicker way to deal with a demanding patients than persuading them otherwise.
Many, many person still do die each year in Hospitals too from preventable medical errors ranging medical errors, drug overdoses to infections caught in the hospital. Exhausted, sleepiness, upset ,overwhelmed, stressed out medical staff are far more likely to make an error. Teaching hospitals across the United States have moved to limit residents’ work weeks to 80 hours to reduce fatigue-related errors and what about those in Canada?
Mortality rates for Most Canadian hospitals are out and the Ontario Waterloo Region has one of the best and the worst rates in the province. The Grand River Hospital out of one hundred and fifty hospitals in the province … it ranked 150 for mortality rates … the worst in the province. Unacceptable. Is it a reflection on the University of Waterloo now as well?
One death is one too many!!! Never mind the average statistics of death!! Canadian hospitals need to reduce mortality rates, for severe infections are still prominent too… a new study found that nearly 10,000 patients died in hospital of sepsis in 2008, a condition resulting from bad Hospital hygiene, disinfection, House cleaning practices firstly. Now there is evidence that some hospital-acquired infections that lead to sepsis can be avoided by controlling the spread of infection. And while hospital standardized mortality may appear to be decreasing overall in Canada, some unacceptable conditions, such as sepsis still remains to be dealt with adequately, fully, immediately for reducing mortality in hospitals. CIHI’s study shows that in 2008-2009, more than 30,500 patients were hospitalized with sepsis in Canada, not including Quebec. The study noted that just over 30 per cent of patients hospitalized with sepsis died, and that compared to 18.0 per cent for stroke patients and 9.1 per cent for heart attack patients. Studies have shown various factors such as early recognition and treatment can reduce deaths from sepsis. “There is lots of evidence that hospital-acquired infections that lead to sepsis can be prevented. Instituting the best practices should be a priority for reducing sepsis and mortality rates,” Dr. Claudio Martin, a critical care physician at London Health Sciences Centre, At an Ontario health centre, a task force was created to adopt known best practices for early recognition and treatment on the centre’s wards and in the emergency room and developing cases on the ward have picked up more quickly and related treatment started sooner . Not every Hospital cares to do this still because of the cost and bother in Canada. Unacceptable
A poorly managed Hospital and personnel is still always rightfully unacceptable even if it is McGill. I have often been wondering why the Montreal McGill Hospitals tend to provide the basic , or pretentious services, it is cause the real doctors, professionals, self serving, greedy, money hungry doctors now are trying to make a buck in the private sector and are generally not available to all, even though Canada supposedly only has a fully public accessible Medicare system, and the Hospital directors who generally are doctors too go along with this too.. conflicting self interest
More than 9,300 hospital patients died of sepsis – a form of blood poisoning caused by infections – last year in Canada, new data reveal. Last year, there were 87,612 deaths in Canadian hospitals, excluding Quebec. Hospital deaths account for almost half of all mortality. Moreover, the number of sepsis cases has increased and the mortality rate has held steady over the past five years. “Sepsis is one of the top causes of patient deaths in hospitals. It’s a big problem,” There has been a strong push in recent years to improve patient safety, particularly in hospitals. “It’s really not an easy problem to resolve,” Sepsis can occur when a bacterial, fungal or viral infection moves into the bloodstream and attacks vital organs. While sepsis can develop from relatively minor infections, such as influenza or a urinary tract infection, it most often develops in people who have serious wounds or compromised immune systems, and in surgery patients with catheters. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/blood-poisoning-a-top-cause-of-death-in-hospitals/article1396660/
It is always the same old problem, Doctors and medical stff continual indifference to the need of others, Hospital costs savings so the Doctors can get more money, even bad who Doctors fail to define the sicknesses soon enough. Law suits and the related bad publicity have been proven to be one of the most effective weapons in dealing with medical inadequacies.
Almost since my first job after graduating from university I had learned that people are not to be trusted, need to be supervised, and corruption still exists in construction, universities, municipalities, governments, corporations, amongst professionals and politicians as well.
A report released 10/26/09 by Thomson Reuters, parent company of the Reuters news service, stated that the current U.S. health system wastes in a year, one-third of the current healthcare expenditure. The report cites the following as sources of wasteful spending:
- Overuse of antibiotics and lab tests to protect against malpractice lawsuits (Pennsylvania State University estimates that as much as 91 percent of our nation’s healthcare expenditures are related to defensive medicine);
- Signifcant Fraud in Medicare claims ;
- Administrative inefficiency and redundant paperwork;
- Medical mistakes;
- Preventable conditions, such as uncontrolled diabetes
http://www.healthfreedom.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=933&Itemid=1
A doctor is concerned that Manitoba labs are putting patients in danger , the province is now conducting an external review into the matter. Pediatric pathologist Dr. David Grynspan says he’s noticed problems at provincial labs for the past two years. Last month, he submitted a 20-page report to the province which outlined concerns about heavy workloads, lack of accountability and some senior managers over-billing for work. Grynspan says those factors compromise patient safety. He says staffing levels may be to blame. Currently there are eight vacancies in the pathology department out of 46 positions. Grynspan says his report outlines one case where a patient’s samples were misdiagnosed. Tory health critic Myrna Driedger says the province’s external review led by Winnipeg doctor Sharon McDonald won’t be objective. “I think we need a totally independent external review and an auditor on that committee to look into these allegations,” says Driedger. Arlene Wilgosh, the board chair for Diagnostic Services Manitoba, the group which oversees the province’s public labs says McDonald is bringing in a pathologist from outside the province, along with an independent labour lawyer to help in the external review. Grynspan says he doesn’t agree with the review process and would like to see a completely external auditor do a thorough investigation of the pathology department. http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20091211/wpg_pathology_091211/20091211/?hub=WinnipegHome
Emergency Wards in Hospitals can be a deadly place.. many people pick up all kinds of sicknesses there too.. shit disease included.. http://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/victims-of-deadly-c-difficile-outbreak/ http://anyonecare.wordpress.com/2008/05/08/shit-disease/
Blood poisonings, infection traced to ER 40 affected by outbreak at Seven Oaks General Hospital 12/12/2009 1:00 A bloodstream infection has affected 40 patients at Seven Oaks General Hospital — including two who have died. The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority issued a news release late Friday afternoon, describing the situation at Seven Oaks as an outbreak in the emergency ward and asking anyone treated with intravenous medication and suffering flu-like symptoms to contact their physician. Dr. John Embil, the WRHA medical director of infection, prevention and control, said his department became aware of the outbreak at the end of the summer when staff found a number of bloodstream infections linked to an organism known as Serrtatia marcescens. Twenty patients were infected when Embil and hospital staff began tracking the source of the infection in late summer, and another 20 people have since been identified as also having the infection. Dr. Ricardo Lobato de Faria, the chief medical officer at Seven Oaks, said all but two of the 40 patients showed signs of the infection after they were admitted to the hospital following treatment in the emergency ward. Two others were treated in emergency and released but recalled when their blood work revealed the infection, he said. Embil said officials’ detective work determined that the infection originated in Seven Oaks’ emergency ward but they’ve yet to learn what caused it in the first place. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/blood-infection-traced-to-er-79119197.html
Did they say that the infection was growing somewhere in the ER? Sounds like a late-night movie, but this is very serious. Who has the contract for cleaning, the same people who clean Maple Leaf Foods? Some serious Infections can be airborne transmitted as well as the standard contact transmission, and no serious disease should be taken lightly by anyone. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2009/12/11/mb-bacterial-infection-er-hospital.html http://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/listeriosis-investigator-report/
Before 2007, Canadian hospitals OUTSIDE OF Quebec were not required to publicly report their in-hospital death rates. The public release would force hospital officials to examine their internal practices and improve patient care. Reporting rates to the public allows patients to examine potential risks at their local hospitals. It also forces hospitals – everyone from the hospital boards to the CEOs to the medical and nursing staff – to compare themselves to other institutions. Dr. David Austin, chief of staff at Markham Stouffville Hospital, said the 43-point drop in the institution’s mortality rate can largely be attributed to how the hospital has improved the way its staff appropriately document patient charts. The hospital has also brought in sub-specialist physicians, including hospitalists and intensivists, to deal with specific in-patient issues. “If you have sepsis in hospital, you have a one in three chance of dying,” ”If you are admitted to hospital for stroke, you have a one in five chance of dying. If you are admitted to hospital for heart attack, you have a one in 10 chance of dying.” Dr. Indra Pulcins, director of indicators and performance measurement at Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/737552–hospital-death-rates-fall-in-new-era-of-disclosure
AND SPEEDING IS NOT THE CAUSE OF MAIN ACCIDENTS, OR ROAD DEATHS NOW TOO.. http://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/speeding-is-not-the-major-cause-of-car-accidents-still/
Medical Errors are also still a leading cause of Deaths. More and more people die from medical mistakes each year than from highway accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS.
And pharmaceutical drugs kill more people every year than are killed in traffic accidents. Many hospitalized patients suffered a serious adverse drug reaction (ADR) and died as a result. The researchers found that over 75 per cent of these ADRs were dose-dependent, which suggests they were due to the inherent toxicity of the drugs rather than to allergic reactions. The researchers concluded that ADRs are now the fourth leading cause of death after heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Any deaths from misdiagnosis of the ailment , deaths from unnecessary surgery; from medication errors in hospitals; deaths from other errors in hospitals; deaths from infections in hospitals; deaths from adverse effects of medications, or from adverse drug reactions used to treat the illness, they are all always still unacceptable!
Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice: Clostridium difficile-Associated Disease : “The Perfect Storm” Has Arrived and it falsely kills many because it is not talked about enough too.. There should be weekly mandatory reporting of all hospital acquired infections, not just the number of Hospital deaths
Have you also not noticed that most hospital patients, many of who are too too sick to get up, they do not wash their hands before they eat?
Hospital, medical administrators should consider cheap, disposable, paper, clothing for all medical staff seriously!!! and save money on costs of medical diseases not being spread..
