Infection Control

Well, my anxiety has heightened slightly since yesterday and since the 2nd healthcare worker has contracted the Ebola virus.  I believe it stems from my lack of confidence in the healthcare system in general.  Maybe that's because I work in a hospital and hear too much.  

My first thought about the healthcare workers that contracted this deadly virus is I question what the hospital's overall protocol was for infectious diseases.  This virus is transmitted by contact with bodily fluids.  They are saying there was no protocol in place for dealing with it and I don't understand that.  There should have been standard protocols in place to deal with ANY infectious disease.

When my mother was in the hospital every room on her floor had an isolation cart parked outside the door.  That was troubling since it meant that there was a lot of cross contamination going on in that hospital.  My mother contracted MRSA and C-diff (Clostridium difficile colitis) while in the hospital.  Evidently it was rampant on her floor and throughout the hospital.  What we observed was that we (Ron & I) were the only people gowning up and wearing gloves when we went in her room.  The staff would just come and go (basically ignoring) the cart parked outside her door.  One day a nurse told us that we didn't need to bother gowning up since we were probably already carriers of MRSA by now.

So, my confidence in hospitals and their infection control rates and ability to not cross contaminate is very low.  That's why I sure hope the CDC can now get the situation in Dallas under control.