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Monday, 10 February, 2025
HomeNews UpdateSurprisingly few doctors wash their hands when they should

Surprisingly few doctors wash their hands when they should

Doctors only wash their hands 40% of the time they are supposed to, global studies have shown. [s]The Times[/s] reports that [b]Groote Schuur Hospital’s[/b] Professor Marc Mendelson says that ‘hand hygiene is appallingly done, globally’. He suggests teaching patients to ask doctors if they have washed their hands. With drug-resistant infections on the rise, infection control is one way to prevent patients getting an untreatable infection when they are in hospital for a different ailment. ‘We're already in the post-antibiotic era in SA,’ said Mendelson. Every large academic hospital in SA has had people die from infections resistant to antibiotics, he said.

[link url=http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2014/06/05/doctors-don-t-wash-hands]Full report in The Times[/link]

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