Ablutional confessional

Remember the movie, As Good As It Gets? Remember the obsessive-compulsive (OCD, in psychology speak) character, portrayed by Jack Nicholson, who washes his hands over and over with fresh soap ? Remember Howard Hughes, an over-the-top compulsive, who also began as frequent hand washer? Well, I am that type of person, too, or so I have been told by relatives and friends.

But is that diagnosis true? “No,” I beg to differ…my slightly neurotic obsession with the cleanliness of my hands and the hands of others, who touch me (primarily doctors) and touch my food (all food handlers, including relatives) is in fact based on facts, and has a solid scientific basis behind it.

Since the days of Dr. Semmelweiss, who discovered that washing one’s hands between patients led to a reduction of childbed fever and death, it has been known that hand washing is the number one practice for prevention of germ transference from one human to another. Actually Semmelweiss wasn’t the first physician to note that his ablutionary behavior affected the state of his patients in the 19th century, but he was the first to get historical credit. As with many medical discoveries, his realization that mortality of patients was caused by the germs that doctors “carried” with them from pathology lab to the maternity ward was jeered and ridiculed by the medical establishment, and it took years after his death to accept the scientific truth: Germs, bacteria and viruses, can be transmitted from person to person through touch. So, handwashing became the de rigeur standard in all medical settings.

Now, I would like you to participate in a little experiment, remember one of the principles of a true scientific experiment is observation. Next time you go to a doctor’s office, observe if your physician washes his or her hands before touching you. This means right before you are touched, not after the notes have been typed in on the notoriously “dirty” computer key board, the phone has been answered during your visit etc. You get the point – right before you are touched…Does your doctor pass this fundamental test? If not, what are you going to do? Well, there have been many suggestions put forth by many pundits, including the AMA (American Medical Association). These have included reminding the physician and offering the examiner antibacterial gel.

Now for a reality check. Few medical personnel follow the prescribed behavioral course of action and wash up. This is despite the increase in antibiotic resistant infections. In my experience, my requests to wash hands, ie to follow the easiest, most effective, cheapest way to prevent infection and disease, have been met with disdain, disbelief at this outrageous request, simple denial and flip answers that point to the ubiquitous gloves that are to present a barrier. To the latter, I say that while gloves are a great barrier device, they hardly serve their intended function, if the hand that strips them on, is already contaminated, leading to a contaminated glove. Okay, so what works? I haven’t a clue, but I know that a true consequence to an inappropriate behavior works.
That said, future requests to wash one’s hands before any medical or dental exam will have to be met with the one avenue open to patients, namely me – getting up and walking out, and changing doctors. Of course, this is embarrassing, but I think this would make the point quite clear of why I have left a particular practice…Will it make a difference for the next patient? I don’t know, but I sure hope so.

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IrongeezelleSays™: “Ablution confessional”
By Tatjana Eggink, Lifestyle Coach