British researchers gave surveys to about 80 surgical patients asking them how they would feel about asking doctors or nurses various questions…. But questions aimed at improving patient safety and reducing medical errors were far more difficult for patients to ask, receiving an average score of just 2.4 points. Questions that received low marks included:
* “Who are you, and what is your job?”
* “I don’t think that is the medication I am on. Can you check please?”
* “Have you washed your hands?”
* “How many times have you done this operation?”
Doctor, Did You Wash Your Hands? – Well – Tara Parker-Pope – Health – New York Times Blog
Given this development, “have you washed your hands?” is especially pertinent, but I’d get more specific with, “did you roll up your sleeves and wash according to accepted hygienic procedures?” if I lived in the UK.
Muslim medical students are refusing to obey hygiene rules brought in to stop the spread of deadly superbugs, because they say it is against their religion.
Women training in several hospitals in England have raised objections to removing their arm coverings in theatre and to rolling up their sleeves when washing their hands, because it is regarded as immodest in Islam.
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