Nurses' Station

“Infections are preventable, not inevitable,” said Hilmy at Central New York Psychiatric Center in Oneida County.

Dudkowski, Hilmy, Hsieh-Li at Queens Psychiatric Center and Loughran at Bronx Psychiatric Center, agreed that keeping your hands clean tops the list for preventing infection.

If you think a quick rinse under hot water is the right way to avoid spreading germs, it’s not. Wash with soap and warm water, rubbing your hands vigorously for at least 15 seconds. Have a couple of sheets of paper towel in place, so you can dry your hands, turn off the faucet, and use the towel to open the door. An alcohol-based hand sanitizer also works well.

“Respiratory etiquette is also very important,” Loughran added. “Cover your mouth when sneezing or coughing, preferably with a tissue. If you don’t have one available, use your sleeve or the crook of your arm.”

Stay home when you are sick.

And, of course, get a flu shot.

“This is especially important for health care workers,” Hsieh-Li said. “You need to take control of your health because the health and safety of others ultimately lies in your hands.”

Today, the future
“We’ve done such a good job with immunizing that young people of today have no clue what some of the older diseases are, because they don’t live with them. Their friends don’t have measles, chicken pox or the mumps. No one has seen polio in years. In our business, it’s the absence of a disease or infection that tells you something is working.

“Perhaps the most important thing we do is education. In this day and age, we need more infection preventionists,” Dudkowski said. “It would result in a cost savings and saving more lives.

By DEBORAH A.MILES
In the United States, the annual direct medical costs (hospitalization, doctors’ office visits, medications) of influenza are estimated at up to $4.6 billion. Each year, up to 111 million workdays are lost because of influenza. This costs American businesses more than $7 billion a year in sick days and lost productivity.

Nationally, 36,000 people die each year from the flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Despite the statistics, people, including health care workers, are reluctant to roll up their sleeves to get an annual flu shot.

The excuses for not getting a shot are pretty much the same, according to a few PEF infection control nurses – Thomas Dudkowski, Karen Hilmy, Janet Hsieh-Li and Ellis Loughran — who work in facilities across the state.

“People think the shot will give them the flu, or they may have become sick after a shot,” said Dudkowski at Buffalo Psychiatric Center.

“A person could be allergic to the preservative the virus is in,” he said. “I’d really have to ask what happened in the past and find out the symptoms. But the vaccination, itself, does not give a person influenza.”

People can mistake influenza for something else.

Influenza is a serious, acute respiratory disease caused by a virus. People who get influenza have a cough, fever, chills, sore throat, headache, muscle aches and fatigue. Illness due to influenza usually lasts from three to five days, but can last longer. The cough and fatigue can persist for several weeks, making the return to full personal and work activities difficult.

Prevention the key
Some people who feel healthy may avoid the shot because they think they aren’t at risk. But they can pass the germs on to others who are more vulnerable.

All it takes is a handshake, touching a doorknob, elevator button, or being in the line of fire when someone sneezes or coughs.

“Infection prevention is a facility-wide issue. It spans all disciplines. It’s every living person you come in contact with,” Dudkowski said.

(Continued on next column)