The history of hospital hygiene

Even though scientists had not yet discovered that bacteria was responsible for infections, Semmelweis assumed that the doctors and students were accountable for the childbed fever. Within the course of a day, they would switch between working in dissecting rooms and maternity wards, while treating patients without disinfecting their hands. After discovering this coherence, he instructed everyone to extensively disinfect hands and instruments after dissection. As a result, the death rate dropped from 18% to 2.5% in his department. Even though Semmelweis had made such a groundbreaking discovery, he was strongly criticized because many doctors wouldn’t admit that they were responsible for perilous infections.

At the end of the 19th century infectiology was in full bloom, coined by famous medics such as Robert Koch, Paul Ehrlich and Emil von Behring. After bacteria had been discovered to be the reason for infections, hygienically disinfecting before examinations and surgical procedures, as well as disinfecting instruments and tools, became obligatory in clinical daily life. With the discovery of penicillin, infections could not only be avoided but also effectively fought. The improvements in hygiene standards and the development of new antibiotics led to a significant decrease in death rates caused by infections in Western civilization, within the 20th century.

However, the cumulative and comprehensive use of antibiotics can have a downside. In recent decades, antibiotic resistances have evolved into a larger problem. The so-called multiresistant germs, which are immune to various types of antibiotics, are especially spreading in hospitals, causing severe infections. The most common agents are the methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and the vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE). As the amount of resistances is constantly increasing, it has become evident that adequate hygiene measures are absolutely necessary. This is crucial for multimorbid and immobile patients, or people with weakened immune systems who require increased care and are regularly in contact with nurses, which can lead to an infection through carried germs. This group of patients, with their already critical conditions, can easily suffer from severe or even deadly complications if infected with such a vicious bacteria. The treatment is becoming more difficult, as the multiresistant bacteria only react to a small amount of medicine. Prescribing and taking unnecessary antibiotics, as well the improper disposal and use of antibiotics in industrial livestock farming, has led to even harmless germs developing new resistances.

Therefore, it should be in the hospital’s best interest to avoid infections from the beginning. The first and most important measure is hygienic hand sanitation. Disinfection should take place before and after patient contact, as well as when entering the patient’s vicinity, before surgical procedures and after being in contact with potentially infectious materials. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), correct and consistent hand sanitation in clinical daily life can decrease the risk of hospital infections by up to 40%.

Furthermore, medical devices and instruments which are used for several patients have to be regularly disinfected as well. All seca devices are developed according to these hygiene standards. The measuring and weighing devices are made of ABS synthetics and powder-coated steel, which are renowned for their high biocompatibility and easy cleaning capabilities. The design, with its many smooth surfaces, is made specifically to avoid edges, slots or other cracks that might be hard to reach, in which germs could easily hide.