| How often does Your Doctor Wash His Hands? |
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We have known about cleanliness and the importance of hand washing since the 1800s, and you would think that no one in this country would have a problem with washing their hands, except maybe for small children who haven't learned the "joys of clean hands" yet! However, a surprising part of the population has been reported to be lacking in their hand washing! You would think that with all of the information we have available to us nowadays, washing hands would not be a problem at all, but sadly, it is. When you go into a service facility, no matter what kind of service it is that they offer, we hope and usually tend to assume that the people serving us have washed their hands in accordance with today's health standards and regulations. Right about now, you are probably thinking that I am going to give you the statistics on the hand washing habits of teenagers working in the fast food industry, but that is not the direction I am heading to. Instead, I am going to tell you about your family doctor! When you enter a hospital or doctor's office you automatically assume that the doctor examining you and your loved ones has been cleaning his hands regularly, especially with all of the germs that are already floating around hospitals and health care facilities these days. Hand washing is very important to us, and we take it for granted that it is just as important to our doctors. However, a new study has found that a lot of doctors aren't washing their hands as often as they should be! This is startling news, when new strains of the flu keep coming out, along with the other health risks associated with not washing your hands. Don't be too alarmed, though, not all kinds of doctors are lacking in the hand washing department - surgeons still wash their hands. It is necessary because of the risk of infection when performing surgery. It is the doctors who work in offices or clinics who have fallen short in hand washing. This is still an important issue however, because a lot of these doctors are constantly dealing with children and the elderly, who are more open to contracting certain sicknesses and diseases. There was an article about the subject that was recently published in the popular newspaper, the New York Times, and hopefully it will shed some light on the issue and make doctors wake up and take notice of what they can do to help prevent the spread of sickness and disease. Hand washing is an extremely important part of good health care, and we as the public deserve to have quality health care - and that includes doctors who wash their hands regularly! I don't know if it would help to ask or remind your doctor to wash his or her hands, but talking about it to your friends and family and spreading the word may help the public be more aware. When people are talking about the issue, doctors will hear about it, and hopefully this will eradicate the problem. |
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