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StaphAseptic™ News
Bedside Manner Doesn't Include Sitting on Beds in British Hospitals
March 18, 2010
Wall Street Journal, Health Blog
By James A. White
It's getting close to April Fools Day but we're told this is no joke: It seems that in a bid to cut down on the spread of infections, some British hospitals have taken to telling visitors and their medical staffs not to sit on the beds of patients.
"We are committed to doing all we can to prevent infection and as a result have very low rates" of infections like MRSA and Clostridium difficile, a spokesman for Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, one of the British hospitals enforcing a no-bed-sitting policy, told the BBC. An official of the Scotland Patients Association was quoted elsewhere as saying that "there's no way that anybody, after sitting on a bus or sitting anywhere in their outdoor clothes, should come in and sit on our patients' beds."
Adopting the rules is a local decision and some hospitals have enacted them in recent years without drawing too much of a fuss. But a GP, Iona Heath, now has kicked the covers off the issue in an article in the journal BMJ. She says there's "no hard evidence" for the prohibition...
This is a portion of the original article. To keep reading, visit the Wall Street Journal Health Blog
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