Avoiding Infections in Hospitals

Many lives have been saved at hospitals. But, as one infectious disease doctor points out, hospitals can also make people sick. Hospitals are a hotbed of infections, and it's essential that a visitor or a patient do all they can to stop disease from spreading.

Infection Control Every year, 20 million people in the U.S. catch norovirus, which causes vomiting and diarrhea. This disease spreads at a fast pace as billions of virus particles are released and all, it really takes to infect us are just a couple dozen strands. Hospitals have generally found a way to avoid these problems. They have identified potential infectious patients quickly and such patients are isolated. They are put in rooms where the airflow cannot infect others if their infection is airborne. Gloves, masks, eye shields are used to avoid a patient transmitting infections to others. 

 

But, what more can a patient or a visitor do to keep disease from spreading: 

 

1. Wash your hands

Using soap and water, or a hand sanitizer with 60% alcohol, reduces spreading or catching infections. This should be done before and after seeing a patient. It's something that's easy, but also easy to forget. 

 

2. Don't touch your face  

We tend to touch our face a lot, possibly even 15 times an hour. This spreads bugs from our hands to our nose and to our mouth, spreading fecal-oral and respiratory bugs from diarrhea illnesses to colds.

3. Be vaccinated

Patients are hospitalized because their immune systems cannot handle any other infections. Bear in mind that what may be a touch of the flu to you may be something that another cannot fight off. There are times when healthcare workers spread vaccinable infections to their patients, so it is important that we are vaccinated, ensuring that we protect the most vulnerable. 

 

4. Stay Home if ill 

If you are ill, avoid visiting patients. If you cannot, make sure that sneezes are covered with a tissue paper or upper sleeve. 

 

Other steps that you can take to reduce risk to healthcare workers and yourself: 

Each year, about 385,000 healthcare professionals are pricked by a needle or another sharp object. This means that the risk of HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, or other diseases is possible, albeit low. It is also a risk that no one should have to take. You can help further by doing the following: 

 

5. Never get in a nurse's way

Needle stick risks for nurses and doctors rise with distractions. Medical professionals need to concentrate and shouldn't answer questions when they are doing a procedure. 

 

6. Sharps Boxes:  

If it says, Don't Touch, don't touch Within each room of any major hospital is a box or wastebin designed for sharp objects like needles and scalpels. This protects maintenance personnel and everyone. Sometimes someone with throw something into a sharps bin. But needles don't compress, they can stick you instead.  

 

7. Antibiotic Resistance

Bacteria have been fought off with antibiotics since 1928, but doctors and scientists have since watched bacteria reclaim their turf. They seem to have an assortment of genes that resist antibiotics. If we can reduce infections and antibiotic usage, we can reduce the drug resistance that develops. 

 

8. Antibiotics: Take as needed and prescribed, only 

When it comes to antibiotics bear in mind that if you do need them, you need them, and if you don't, then you don't. If you do need them then you need to take the full amount prescribed. Antibiotic over-usage (and under-usage) leads to resistance and other infections that grow when other bacteria are wiped out with antibiotics. 

 

9. Extra Infection Control

We need to be cautious of not only visible infection but bugs we unknowingly carry, including drug-resistant bacteria. So take extra precautions by washing your hands regularly when visiting patients carrying such infections.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement

 

6 Essential Skincare Tips For When You’re in Self-Isolation

The skin’s barrier function is the first line of defense against various microorganisms like the ubiquitous Sars-CoV-2. To put things technically, the skin barrier is a complex lipid coating of the uppermost layer of the skin, the stratum corneum, which acts as an impenetrable protective coating against germs, allergens, and chemicals. It is one of the most important and powerful protective systems of the human body and it is often overlooked.

Daily activities, such as washing your hands, body, and face with soap, using cleaning products, air conditioning and even wearing protective gloves and masks for prolonged periods of time can strip the skin of the natural lipids it contains, which can easily disrupt the skin barrier function, lowering your protection against harmful microorganisms and pollutants. In this article, we’ll explain how to strengthen your skin barrier and share other tips to consider while you’re spending so much time at home these days.

1. Moisturize
There's a reason why moisturizing is number one on this list, and that reason is that it's is the single best way to strengthen your skin barrier. As we mentioned previously, your skin’s barrier consists of the lipids (aka fats) your skin produces known as sebum. Both biological and environmental factors can affect your sebum production. For example, older adults tend to produce less sebum than teenagers and young adults, which makes their skin drier and harms their skin barrier.
Similarly, air conditioning and washing your skin with soap more often can strip the skin of the protective lipids and damage the skin barrier function as well. Thus, to protect your skin all over your body, not only your hands, it’s not enough to just wash your hands. You have to apply an occlusive moisturizer (any thick cream or lotion will do) to your skin daily.

This will replenish your skin barrier and won’t let any germs penetrate your skin. When moisturizing, focus on areas that are the driest and the most exposed to dry air and constant washing, such as your hands (especially the knuckles and back of hands), face, neck, and elbows. You can reapply the moisturizer several times a day, especially if you’re washing your hands very often and this dries out your skin.

2. Cleansing Your Face
It's not just your hands that take the hardest hit from germs, your face is exposed to the elements and sneezes. That's why it's essential to cleanse your face twice a day, even when you're lazing about the house all day in your PJs and washing your face is the last thing you want to do.
No need to wash your face more often, though, as the skin on the face is much thinner and more sensitive than the rest of your body, and hence - more prone to over-drying. Needless to say, the same goes for the rest of the body, and it's ill-advised to skip showers just because you don't have to leave your house. Do we also need to stress the importance of washing your hands?

At this point, it's pretty much common sense, but just in case you want to learn how to do it correctly, here is a link to a step-by-step tutorial: How to Wash Your Hands Correctly.

3. Do You Still Need Sunscreen?
The short answer is 'yes', and not only because you need to stay protected from the sun. UV exposure is known to affect the barrier function of the skin, and wearing a broad-spectrum sunscreen will be able to protect your skin barrier from the sun's UVA and UVB rays since this is exactly what sunscreens are formulated for.

In addition to that, it's also advised to apply sunscreen every morning to protect yourself from skin cancer and skin aging, since it's a well-known fact that UVA rays especially - the kind that causes cancer and wrinkles - can penetrate through glass windows and doors. This is especially important for those who have a history of skin cancer in the family, as well as everyone who lives in warm climates.

4. De-Stress With Skincare
At challenging times of self-isolation and suffering a barrage of bad news, stress and anxiety don't go anywhere, even if you stay at home all day. Unfortunately, stress can affect the immune system and experiencing frequent colds and flu symptoms are one of the signs of chronic stress. Luckily, when you're spending the entire day at home, it's easier to invest 10-15 minutes of your time in de-stressing with self-care.

You can take your time to use one of the face masks you already have, or make your own DIY face mask like this calming oatmeal mask, or you can also indulge in a relaxing foot soak with aroma oils and watch the stress melt away. Spending time on yourself and indulging in activities you rarely have time for ordinarily is so important to cope with the anxiety and stress we're all facing on a daily basis these days.

5. Don't Touch Your Face
Touching your face with dirty hands is a common way of catching the cold, flu, and likely the coronavirus, too. Surprising statistics from a 2008 study reveal that the average person touches their face 16 times an hour! That being said, it is possible to reduce the number of times you touch your face and train yourself not to do so, so there's hope.
Here are some ways to stop touching your face with your hands:

    Keep your hands busy: fold laundry or hold a pillow when watching TV, teach yourself to interlock your fingers when your hands are unoccupied.
    Use hand sanitizer or soap with a strong (and maybe even unpleasant) scent so that you notice when you're about to touch your face and stop yourself in the act.
    Wearing gloves can serve as a physical reminder that you shouldn't touch your face because you're more aware of what you're hands are doing when they're in gloves.

6. Nourish Your Skin
What's the best way to boost your immune system and the skin barrier function all at the same time? The answer is healthy nutrition! It's a well-known fact that eating healthy foods decreases the level of inflammation in the body, which means a stronger immune system and healthy, glowing skin. Yes, it's true, unhealthy eating habits, especially indulging in fried foods, processed products, and sweets are known to cause rosacea, acne and other skin conditions, all of which destroy the barrier function of the skin.

If you're self-isolating and staying at home for long periods, you finally have time to cook healthy meals and invest in your nutrition. So, make the most of this stressful period in our lives and nourish your skin and entire body!

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement

Avoiding Infections in Hospitals

Many lives have been saved at hospitals. But, as one infectious disease doctor points out, hospitals can also make people sick. Hospitals are a hotbed of infections, and it's essential that a visitor or a patient do all they can to stop disease from spreading.

Infection Control
Every year, 20 million people in the U.S. catch norovirus, which causes vomiting and diarrhea. This disease spreads at a fast pace as billions of virus particles are released and all, it really takes to infect us are just a couple dozen strands. Hospitals have generally found a way to avoid these problems. They have identified potential infectious patients quickly and such patients are isolated. They are put in rooms where the airflow cannot infect others if their infection is airborne. Gloves, masks, eye shields are used to avoid a patient transmitting infections to others.

But, what more can a patient or a visitor do to keep disease from spreading:

1. Wash your hands
Using soap and water, or a hand sanitizer with 60% alcohol, reduces spreading or catching infections. This should be done before and after seeing a patient. It's something that's easy, but also easy to forget.

2. Don't touch your face
We tend to touch our face a lot, possibly even 15 times an hour. This spreads bugs from our hands to our nose and to our mouth, spreading fecal-oral and respiratory bugs from diarrheal illnesses to colds. 

3. Be vaccinated
Patients are hospitalized because their immune systems cannot handle any other infections. Bear in mind that what may be a touch of the flu to you may be something that another cannot fight off. There are times when healthcare workers spread vaccinable infections to their patients, so it is important that we are vaccinated, ensuring that we protect the most vulnerable.

4. Stay Home if ill

If you are ill, avoid visiting patients. If you cannot, make sure that sneezes are covered with a tissue paper or upper sleeve.

Other steps that you can take to reduce risk to healthcare workers and yourself:

Each year, about 385,000 healthcare professionals are pricked by a needle or another sharp object. This means that the risk of HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, or other diseases is possible, albeit low. It is also a risk that no one should have to take. You can help further by doing the following:

5. Never get in a nurse's way
Needle stick risks for nurses and doctors rise with distractions. Medical professionals need to concentrate and shouldn't answer questions when they are doing a procedure.

6. Sharps Boxes: If it says, Don't Touch, don't touch
Within each room of any major hospital is a box or wastebin designed fro sharp objects like needles and scalpels. This protects maintenance personnel and everyone. Sometimes someone with throw something into a sharps bin. But needles don't compress, they can stick you instead. 

7. Antibiotic Resistance

Bacteria have been fought off with antibiotics since 1928, but doctors and scientists have since watched bacteria reclaim their turf. They seem to have an assortment of genes that resist antibiotics. If we can reduce infections and antibiotic usage, we can reduce the drug resistance that develops.

8. Antibiotics: Take as needed and prescribed, only

When it comes to antibiotics bear in mind that if you do need them, you need them, and if you don't, then you don't. If you do need them then you need to take the full amount prescribed. Antibiotic over-usage (and under-usage) leads to resistance and other infections that grow when other bacteria are wiped out with antibiotics. 

9. Extra Infection Control
We need to be cautious of not only visible infection but bugs we unknowingly carry, including drug-resistant bacteria. So take extra precautions by washing your hands regularly when visiting patients carrying such infections. 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement