Typhoid Mary vs. Northwest Hospital

When Dr. Lee admitted me to the hospital, he put me in an isolation room. A day or so later, tests confirmed that I have C. diff., a nasty infection that is most often caught--and spread--in hospital settings. 

When one of my doctors confirmed the diagnosis after a test of my stool, she asked me when I had most recently had antibiotics, because C. diff. typically shows up after a course of antibiotics has knocked out the good bacteria in the gut, leaving room for C. diff. to grow. 

I couldn't--and can't--remember the last time I had antibiotics, but it's also possible that my GI tract was so whacked from all the chemo-caused diarrhea that the C. diff. bacteria could get a foothold. 

Gloves, Gowns, Hand-washing In any case, when you are in an isolation room, staff are not supposed to just come and go at will. First, they wash their hands, or use hand-sanitizer, although one of my nurses told me hand-sanitizer wasn't good enough, so there is a difference of opinion there. (I'm using soap and water, myself.)

Second, they don a one-time-use gown, and then a pair of gloves. Even to bring me a breakfast tray, they are supposed to follow this procedure. 

On the way out of the room, they throw the gown in a laundry hamper, dispose of the gloves, and wash their hands. 

So that's all good, but yesterday I was dispatched to two different places in the hospital by gurney, and as far as I could tell, all sanitary "let's not spread the C. diff." precautions went out the window. 

I felt like Typhoid Mary. I mean, the last thing I want to do is have some fragile elderly person catch this infection, which, according to the Mayo Clinic Web site, can cause everything from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon. Not to mention, severe dehydration, which I had when I came in. 

The staff person who wheeled me down to the radiation oncology dept. yesterday morning wore gloves and a gown, but the staff person who greeted me down there and put me in a patient room did not. So the first thing I said to her was, "Do you know I have C. diff.?" She said she didn't, and she didn't immediately scoot off and gown up. 

When the doctor came in and held out his bare hand to shake, I repeated, "Do you know I have C. diff.?" He said he didn't, but--get this--he later left the room without washing his hands. 

Pretty much the same scenario occurred when I was gurneyed down for a chest X-ray (to check on my pneumonia) later in the day. Staff person wheeled me down wearing gown and gloves. I was then parked in a room in the X-ray area where I watched all sorts of staff people go by and a few wash their hands--without following the correct procedure. 

What they did, over and over, was touch the same tap they had used to turn on the water with dirty hands with a freshly washed, wet hand. Bingo! Germ transfer to the wet hand!

Anyway, when another staff person came out to get me to do my chest X-ray, I asked again. He said no, and he didn't seem too worried. I didn't see any wiping down of the surfaces I touched during the X-ray, and according to the Mayo Clinic again, "...in any setting, all surfaces and equipment should be carefully cleaned with a detergent and a hospital-grade disinfectant or chlorine bleach. C. difficile spores can survive routine household disinfectants." 

Then he parked me back in the first room, about three feet away from another patient on a gurney. No precautions to protect THAT patient. 

And when it came time to gurney me back to my room, along came a young woman dressed only in hospital scrubs, no gown, no gloves. I repeated my question, "Do you know I have C. diff.?" She said no, and slipped on a pair of gloves. No gown though, and she was handling my IV pole, which hadn't been wiped down since I don't know when. 

But this story gets even weirder: The young woman started wheeling me away, and I started thinking this trip back to my room was taking a long time--through a tunnel, along unfamiliar corridors ... when suddenly another staff person came running up behind us.

He asked my pusher what patient she had, and she gave a name I didn't know. She had grabbed the wrong patient from the room, and hadn't checked my armband, as she was supposed to do. So she was on her way to deliver me to the rehab facility, not the oncology floor. 

So we wheeled back back back, and then another person returned me to my room. 

What Did I Do About All This? Well, when I got back to the room, I was tired, and pissed, and frazzled (I had also waited 45 minutes on that gurney for my X-ray), so I shut my door and just chilled for awhile. Then I told the nursing assistant I wanted to talk to my nurse when she had time. 

The nurse, who I like a lot, came in later, and we talked it all through. She listened, and seemed to get it, and agreed that proper procedures had not been followed. She also pointed out that since I've been on antibiotics for a couple of days I was probably not all that contagious, but if that's the case, why all the precautions in my room?

Conclusion: I now know how dangerous infections are spread in "health-care" settings. 

Read more about C. diff.: C. difficile: Mayo Clinic

@ Jeanne Sather 2009. 

Comments

[Cheryl]

This is exactly the kind of thing I would do. Power to you! Hospitals have these procedures for a reason. It's always disturbing to see them ignored. Keep reminding them! Gosh, I love your actions and respect your intent.
Cheryl

[Tina Christiansen]

Ridiculous behavior on the part of NW. Glad you are speaking up. Hope things continue to improve so you can get the heck out of there.
-T

[Jana]

Last year I was hospitalized with an antibiotic-resistant infection (not MRSA, but something similar). I was put in a room with three cancer patients (I don't have active cancer right now, it was simply where "they had room" for me). We used the same restroom & sink and it was not cleaned in between us (in fact, we often had to move each others' urine hats so we could use the toilet). The sink had also no running hot water. The same aide took our temps & blood pressure several times a day without cleaning anything in between or washing her hands.

[Chris Baskin]

You're right to be vigilant. It's time to return to the comforts of home.

[jeanne Sather]

Thanks, everyone!

Jana--that's a terrible story! Argh. What were they thinking?

And Chris, I couldn't agree more. I'm debating getting dressed in the morning even before my doctor comes around, so he will know how badly I want/need to go home.

[Tessa]

I'm so sorry to hear it! Ironically, I found this on the BBC today:

"5 Die in Hospital Bug Outbreak"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/8352612.stm

[Teri]

story on c. diff. on King 5: http://www.king5.com/health/60724932.html