Hygiene a C Diff Issue
Link: Winnipeg Free Press.
A recent University of Manitoba study found 20 per cent of hospital toilets aren't being cleaned at all and nearly half used by patients infected with C. difficile had toxic C. difficile spores on them. One in 10 toilets had toxic C. difficile spores, even though they were being used by patients who didn't have C. difficile.
"We're setting ourselves up for a problem if we're not preventing that (toilet) from causing a problem," said Dr. Michelle Alfa, the study's researcher.
Alfa's study also found 90 per cent of commodes weren't being cleaned at all and the hoses nurses use to clean bedpans can easily contaminate washrooms with C. difficile spores. The sprayers aerosolize the toxic spores, which land on sinks, toilets, and walls and can be transmitted to the patient if they touch the contaminated surface and touch their mouth.Shirley Paton, a nurse with the Public Health Agency of Canada's hospital acquired infections division, also said cutting edge medical instruments are being developed faster than infection control can deem the proper way to sanitize them. She said laser tools, for minimally invasive surgery, are hard to clean and can be a hotbed for spreading infection.
"A number of medical instruments are made in such a way that I believe, they can't be cleaned," she said. "Are they being used? Well yes."
