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economist sunsuntribune health saturday april 23 2005 clean hands best infection control tactic by chris traber staff writer the first line of defence against infection is in your hands quite literally people can greatly enhance their protection against many viruses bacteria and other nastiness by using hand sanitizer lotions and wash ing their hands well and often with warm water and soap thats conventionalwisdom but what of places such as hospitals and doctors offices where sick people are the com mon denominator the medical community employs stringent infection con trols to protect patients and themselves the college of physicians and surgeons released the third edi tion of a comprehensive guide this month to help doctors thwart the transmission of infec tion our recent experience with sars as well as recent incidents arising from inadequate sterili zation and disinfection of med ical equipment have under scored the notion that every per son is vulnerable if proper safe guards are not in place to pre vent transmission and acquisi tion of infection said dr anne matlow guide coauthor and hospital for sick children infec tion control director the guide is used to educate the medical community on cur rent infection control practises dr matlow said the first thing patients see at unionville family physician rafik bechbaches busy practice is a sign asking them to cleanse their hands with a sanitizer pro vided at the door hand washing is the most important thing patients can do dr bechbache said all of us on staff wash before and after seeing a patient that helps ensure we dont catch anything and that we dont pass anything on when potentially infectious patients are expected they kept away from other patients dr bechbache said if we suspect chicken pox for example well make them the last appointment of the day and then thoroughly clean the exam ination room he saidwe have a strict cleaning protocol where a service disinfects our office everyday medical gloves are also used during patient examinations dr bechbache said york regions three hospitals adhere to infection control measures a rampedup initia tive since the sars scare markham stouffville hospital meets all the guidelines of the campbell commission sars report and has added extra pre cautions vicepresident janet roberts said the hospital has introduced two negative pressure isolation rooms and a separate waiting room in the emergency depart ment and has hired an addition al infection control practitioner the hospital has also escalat ed new safety measures infec tion control practitioner susanne parker said the hospital has just gone live across both sites including partner site uxbridge cottage hospital with safety engineered medical devices that reduce the risk of needlestick injuries to staff she said a message from the war amps safety is no accident so playsafe for more information call 18002503030 this message brought to you as a community service of the economist sunsuntribune qiliams 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