Naval Surgery of the 18th Century.

[capncarp]

Rory:
It's sad that after all Semmelweiss' suffering and sacrifice that we are forced to have an renewed emphasis and stressing of making sure _caregivers_ wash their hands before and after examining a patient. Complacency and false trust in fancy technology, like overprescription of antibiotics, has bred supergerms to threaten our existence.
Another factor is medical corporate bottomline economics that cut back on housekeeping staff. Several years ago, _after_ MRSA was a known issue, some local hospitals cut back the tween-patient cleaning time and comprehensiveness, which involved wiping down almost all surfaces in a room. MRSA rates climbed. This is being reversed by, sad to say, a re-introduction of simple, thorough cleanliness of the hospital rooms, which had kept rates at a reasonable level prior to economizing.
And people wonder why I study History: it's to see the start of another pattern of stupidity and try to prevent it, or at least dodge the bullet.

[Devsdoc]

Rory:
It's sad that after all Semmelweiss' suffering and sacrifice that we are forced to have an renewed emphasis and stressing of making sure _caregivers_ wash their hands before and after examining a patient. Complacency and false trust in fancy technology, like overprescription of antibiotics, has bred supergerms to threaten our existence.
Another factor is medical corporate bottomline economics that cut back on housekeeping staff. Several years ago, _after_ MRSA was a known issue, some local hospitals cut back the tween-patient cleaning time and comprehensiveness, which involved wiping down almost all surfaces in a room. MRSA rates climbed. This is being reversed by, sad to say, a re-introduction of simple, thorough cleanliness of the hospital rooms, which had kept rates at a reasonable level prior to economizing.
And people wonder why I study History: it's to see the start of another pattern of stupidity and try to prevent it, or at least dodge the bullet.

Mark,
In my talks I always said that unlike in the past we are asleep, pain free and safe from germs when we are under the knife. We have the same problem in our hospitals too. So now I do not say the last bit anymore. Some do ask why not!
We think we are so safe now, thinking the past did not know how to cope with germs. We are going backwards. I can see a time that we are in the same point as 300 to 400 years ago. I say that the Plague is still around and we are coming to a point that we travel so far and fast that if you add antibiotics that do not work. We running down a one way street into a died-end of a big fat wall.
Be safe
Rory