Hand washing Compliance - Is It A Reality?

Background: Transmission of microorganisms from the hands of health care workers is the main source of cross-infection in hospitals and can be prevented by hand washing. The aim of this study was to identify predictors of noncompliance with hand washing during routine patient care. Materials And Methods: This is an observational study. The participants in the study were Health Care Workers (HCWs). Doctors, nurses and ward aides working in different wards of the hospital who were observed for compliance with hand washing. Results: In 270 observed opportunities for hand washing, average compliance was 63.3%. Noncompliance was highest among doctors followed by nurses. Ward aides were most compliant. Conclusions: Compliance with hand washing was moderate. Variation across the hospital ward and type of HCW suggests that targeted educational programs may be useful. Noncompliance suggests that understaffing may decrease quality of patient care

The mediating roles of disgust sensitivity and danger expectancy in relation to hand washing behaviour

Copyright © 2010 British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive PsychotherapiesBackground: Recent interest in the role of vulnerability factors in obsessional washing has suggested that disgust sensitivity, danger expectancy and health anxiety may be of interest. Aims: This study explores the differential impact of these factors on both behavioural and cognitive measures of washing behaviour and is based on a replication of the Jones and Menzies (1997) experiment, during which participants immersed their hands in a noxious compound while rating themselves on a range of measures: the time they subsequently took to wash their hands was measured and danger expectancies were found to be the best predictor of this. Method: The present study added measures of disgust sensitivity and health anxiety to this experimental methodology while removing factors they found to be of little import to compulsive washing. Thirty non-clinical participants took part. Results: Results confirmed that disgust sensitivity was related to the behavioural measure of washing time, but that this relationship was almost entirely mediated by the danger expectancy concerning judgements of severity of consequent disease. However, a different pattern emerged when the outcome measure was questionnaire based: danger expectancy was not at all related to this. Disgust sensitivity mediated the relationship between health anxiety and scores on a questionnaire measure of washing compulsions. Interestingly, these scores were not related to the behavioural measure of washing time. Conclusions: The implications of these relationships to the further development of subtypes of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are discussed

Bacterial exchange in household washing machines

Household washing machines (WMs) launder soiled clothes and textiles, but do not sterilize them. We investigated the microbial exchange occurring in five household WMs. Samples from a new cotton T-shirt were laundered together with a normal laundry load. Analyses were performed on the influent water and the ingoing cotton samples, as well as the greywater and the washed cotton samples. The number of living bacteria was generally not lower in the WM effluent water as compared to the influent water. The laundering process caused a microbial exchange of influent water bacteria, skin-, and clothes related bacteria and biofilm-related bacteria in the WM. A variety of biofilm-producing bacteria were enriched in the effluent after laundering, although their presence in the cotton sample was low. Nearly all bacterial genera detected on the initial cotton sample were still present in the washed cotton samples. A selection for typical skin- and clothes related microbial species occurred in the cotton samples after laundering. Accordingly, malodour-causing microbial species might be further distributed to other clothes. The bacteria on the ingoing textiles contributed for a large part to the microbiome found in the textiles after laundering

Car wash water recycling system

The high rate of transportation and vehicle washing centers led to an increase in water consumption. When the water consumption increase, the amount of wastewater discharged and the cost of utility will also increase. Only the right technique used for washing the vehicles can minimize the amount of water consumption. Conservation of water will not only save the water supply, but it will also help in financial savings. Recycling and reusing the water from the car wash means collecting, processing, and treating the contaminated water to remove the dirt and contaminants and using the treated water again for car washing. As cars body always stained with dirt and dust while driving, some dirt such as small stones might stuck and penetrate into the wheels and caused major damage. Thus, a regular car wash usually is needed for every vehicle to avoid this problem. Moreover, getting a regular car wash can also improve car performance. Hence, periodically car washing is one of the best ways to preserve and maintain the performance of vehicles

A method to increase reproducibility in adult ventricular myocyte sizing and flow cytometry: Avoiding cell size bias in single cell preparations.

RATIONALE:Flow cytometry (FCM) of ventricular myocytes (VMs) is an emerging technology in adult cardiac research that is challenged by the wide variety of VM shapes and sizes. Cellular variability and cytometer flow cell size can affect cytometer performance. These two factors of variance limit assay validity and reproducibility across laboratories. Washing and filtering of ventricular cells in suspension are routinely done to prevent cell clumping and minimize data variability without the appropriate standardization. We hypothesize that washing and filtering arbitrarily biases towards sampling smaller VMs than what actually exist in the adult heart. OBJECTIVE:To determine the impact of washing and filtering on adult ventricular cells for cell sizing and FCM. METHODS AND RESULTS:Left ventricular cardiac cells in single-cell suspension were harvested from New Zealand White rabbits and fixed prior to analysis. Each ventricular sample was aliquoted before washing or filtering through a 40, 70, 100 or 200μm mesh. The outcomes of the study are VM volume by Coulter Multisizer and light-scatter signatures by FCM. Data are presented as mean±SD. Myocyte volumes without washing or filtering (NF) served as the "gold standard" within the sample and ranged from 11,017 to 46,926μm3. Filtering each animal sample through a 200μm mesh caused no variation in the post-filtration volume (1.01+0.01 fold vs. NF, n = 4 rabbits, p = 0.999) with an intra-assay coefficient of variation (%CV) of <5% for all 4 samples. Filtering each sample through a 40, 70 or 100μm mesh invariably reduced the post-filtration volume by 41±10%, 9.0±0.8% and 8.8±0.8% respectively (n = 4 rabbits, p<0.0001), and increased the %CV (18% to 1.3%). The high light-scatter signature by FCM, a simple parameter for the identification of ventricular myocytes, was measured after washing and filtering. Washing discarded VMs and filtering cells through a 40 or 100μm mesh reduced larger VM by 46% or 11% respectively (n = 6 from 2 rabbits, p<0.001). CONCLUSION:Washing and filtering VM suspensions through meshes 100μm or less biases myocyte volumes to smaller sizes, excludes larger cells, and increases VM variability. These findings indicate that validity and reproducibility across laboratories can be compromised unless cell preparation is standardized. We propose no wash prior to fixation and a 200μm mesh for filtrations to provide a reproducible standard for VM studies using FCM

Hubungan Edukasi Cuci Tangan Terhadap Pengetahuan, Sikap Dan Kemampuan Keluarga Pasien Di Rumah Sakit Myria Palembang

Background: Family is the most important aspect of nursing because one of the recipients of nursing care. Families of patients who are in the hospital have an important role in preventing nosocomial infections by increasing the knowledge and attitude of hand washing in hospitals by increasing their knowledge and attitude of eating will also increase the ability to wash hands. However, the implementation of hand washing in the patient's family has not run optimally due to various reasons. The patient's family said that they did not know how to wash their hands properly and some said that they did not wash their hands because the patient's disease was not contagious. Objective: this study aims to determine the relationship of hand washing education to knowledge, attitudes and abilities of family members in the Myria Palembang Hospital. Method: This research is a quantitative type of research using quasi experimental with a Non Equavalent Control Group plan and a sample of 112 respondents used purposive sampling technique. The data analysis technique used is the Fisher Exact. Results: The results of this study indicate that there is a relationship between hand washing education to the knowledge of the families of patients at Myria Palembang Hospital (p value = 0.001 <0.005), andthere is a relationship between handwashing education and attitudes with values (p value = 0.001 <0.005), as well asthere is a relationship between hand washing education and ability (p value = 0.001 <0.005).For this reason, the role of nurses as educators is needed, providing counseling to families of patients treated at Myria Hospital so that nosocomial infections can be prevented

Treatment of refinery crude oil tank sludge : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology in Environmental Engineering at Massey University

Appendix A-5 held on floppy disk. Please consult print copy in Library.The treatment and disposal of oil refinery tank sludge is a critical issue among oil refineries. This is because of the hazardous nature of the sludge due to high levels of oil and heavy metals, which must be removed prior to disposal. This study was carried out to investigate the removal of crude oil and heavy metals to allow the design of an appropriate disposal treatment that could meet the environmental regulations for this type of waste. A typical emulsified crude oil tank sludge, produced from tank cleaning operations was characterised and was shown to contain approximately 41%, 16%, 25%, and 8% of solids (sand), oil, water and volatile materials, respectively. The sludge also contained high level of metals, of which more than 98% resided in the solids fraction. The heavy metals analysed were copper, nickel and zinc with average values of 3,955mg/kg, 443 mg/kg and 13,851 mg/kg of raw sludge, respectively. The crude oil fraction of the sludge was removed by solvent washing with kerosene which resulted in emulsion breakdown. A model which optimises the removal of crude oil was developed and validated against experimental data. The model predictions agreed well with experimental trials using kerosene as the solvent. A 2:1 solvent to sludge ratio is adequate to remove the oil (> 98%) in the sludge after two washing stages. This resulted in oil-free/metal-rich solids. Kerosene washing reduced the volume by 76% and mass by 59%, which allows easier handling and disposal. Heavy metals reduction was achieved by acid washing using 8N nitric acid and a 10:4 mixture of 2.4N hydrochloric and 8N nitric acids. Approximately 99% of the metals were removed using a 10:1 acid to solids ratio, at pH <1 and ambient conditions, making the sludge suitable for land application and meeting the appropriate disposal guidelines for oil and metal levels. The solvent washing process was shown to be industrially feasible for volume and mass reduction of the sludge. However, heavy metal reduction by acid washing requires further optimisation before it can be applied on an industrial scale