Why I'm Not a Germaphobe

I successfully, but not intentionally, did not post at all in April. It's not that I was too busy, or didn't have any great ideas for posts, but mostly that my ideas and creativity flow came at all the wrong times: the gym, during work, etc. As a singer/songwriter recently said, "Being a songwriter is very inconvenient to my lifestyle. All my ideas come at the most inopportune moments." After I discovered the "memo pad" feature of my cell phone, I began saving these moments of brilliance so that I could later, when I have a 10-20 minutes stretch of uninterrupted time, remember and then subsequently post. This is one of those topics.

I work in a hospital. All day long I scrub in/scrub out, use the hand foam after each patient I touch, wear gloves when handling a patient, and wash my hands a lot. I don't even work on the floor; I work in an outpatient clinic, where supposedly the "healthy" people are. Even so, you could argue that they are bringing in germs from home, leaving them in the clinic, and then sharing them with other people who in turn go home and spread them. Either way, I work in a place where germs are the bad guy, and we do EVERYTHING we can to supposedly wipe them out.

Yet there's an interesting phenomenon known as HAI - hospital acquired infections (when you get sick because of exposure to a bacteria in the hospital). Some HAIs are due to caregiver error or lack of precautions, but some are unavoidable. There are such strains of some bacteria called antibiotic-resistant strains, like MRSA, which have evolved and simply do not respond to antibiotics. MRSA is why your doctor won't automatically prescribe you an antibiotic when you're sick - he wants to make sure you need it before he gives it to you. Overuse of antibiotics is what causes most antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, and sadly, they're on the rise in America.

In other parts of the world, they don't have these problems. A coworker of mine traveled to Haiti last year on a mission trip and worked in a medical clinic for a week. If they could get a hold of gloves, they were lucky. There was soap, and that's about it. An American hospital official would call the conditions highly unsanitary, yet they don't have any of the antibiotic-resistant strains we do, and certainly don't have the high number of HAIs. If they aren't getting sick while in the hospital, maybe they're doing something right. Could it be possible that we are over-sanitizing?

I think we are. I will continue to use sanitary precautions at work, mostly because we get in big trouble if we don't, but I certainly leave it there. I use hand sanitizer at home only once in awhile, and sometimes when in public places. But even not having much of an immune system won't drive me to be over-zealous about my germ care. I know that some germs are good for me; they help to develop immunity to certain diseases and in general strengthen my immune system, which I need. Just like some bacteria is good for your gut (hello yogurt!), some germs are good for your body.