THE INVESTMENT OF KNOWLEDGE – ISSUE NO. 394

Over this past holiday weekend, I finally had time to catch up on some TV shows I had fallen behind on. I was watching Chicago Med when a patient came in with a highly contagious and infectious disease. I proceeded to pause the program and call everyone in the house to watch it with me. I explained this is what my work tries to prevent. After unpausing, we learned that two other patients had come into Chicago Med with the same disease, and at a hospital across town there were two more patients. After calling in their Infection Preventionist and looking back at patient history, the doctors come to discover this disease was caused by the use of an unclean scope! The doctor's reactions in the show were to immediately contact the FDA. Their IP lets them know that the FDA is already aware and it is their responsibility to make sure they are providing the best care and safety for their patients. I was surprised to see that the writers of these television dramas are aware of the challenges in the medical field, and are trying to bring awareness to the consumers. I was impressed; they were educating on how important cleaning verification tests are and making sure hospital staff are following the manufacturer's IFU step by step when cleaning.