OK, ok. I get it. Wash your hands. Do it often and do it well. I have been an RN forever and sometimes I swear I can feel Kooties on my hands. I take advantage of every opportunity to obliterate germs as we are repeatedly told doorknobs, ink pens, key boards, phones, side rails, and elevator buttons harbor enough occult pathogens to spread disease everywhere.
Yet despite clean hands campaigns, improved environment cleaning, and stricter antibiotic management — no matter how hard we try, we are still not winning the war against this opportunistic, ubiquitous, and very destructive force.
Maybe we need to look a little closer at another source. How often do hospitalized patients wash their hands before their food tray arrives? Then consider this – how often do we provide these same patients with “finger foods” such as crackers, sandwiches, toast, etc? And then ponder this – how many other places have more c-diff spores than a hospital – just waiting to hitch a ride on a french fry?