While visiting the ER yesterday...

[Orrex]

Right there on the entry door to the ER, the hospital displayed a sign with a picture of Africa and a statement about ebola, offering reassurance that the facility is equipped to handle it and a brief summary of measures taken to this effect.

It's a good hospital, though small, and we've used it for years.

As we exited an hour or so later, we stopped by the checkout desk, where a woman sat behind a thick glass window with a three-inch hole and a pass-through slot underneath for payment. On her desk was a two-inch stack of papers.

She asked my name, then proceeded to lick her fingers and shuffle through the paper stack, pausing every four or five sheets to lick her fingers again. She stopped, rubbed her nose with those same spitty fingers, and said "what was the name again?"

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?

This is a ridiculous practice by anyone who's going to be handing material to the general public, much less from a hospital employee. Even if the risk of contagion is minimal--as in the case of ebola--it's in the hospital's interest to look like they take infection control seriously.


Apparently this particular worker missed the meeting.

[hobbit709]

1. Until the pain sets in many people do not take safety precautions as a serious matter.

[Fumesucker]

2. What did the manager say when you spoke to her?

Relax, I know you probably didn't speak up, I probably wouldn't either.

But this will go on until someone does speak up.

The problem is we all know someone's job is at risk and I know I would hate to be responsible for putting someone on the street when all they needed was a little training. If they get that kind of complaint particularly done the wrong way they are likely out of there no matter what.

[Orrex]

8. I plan to follow up, believe me.

When we were done, I just wanted to leave, so I didn't want to hang around waiting for the office manager or whoever. I know someone who works there, and the hospital offers a number of ways to register complaints/concerns.

Although I wouldn't exacty want her to lose her job, I'm not comfortable with Typhoid Mary salivating on everybody's paperwork. For that matter, she's putting her own health at risk, too, and for no good reason!

[Fumesucker]

9. There are other people working in the office, including whoever her superior might be

I assume at least some of them are trained medical personnel, odd that no one has caught on and tipped the person a quiet word.

Makes me wonder what else is happening that none of the trained personnel notice.

[Sheldon Cooper]

3. Did you report this?

If not, why not?

[Orrex]

5. Not yet, but I plan to do so

I didn't at the time because I was eager to leave.

[Sheldon Cooper]

6. Understandable.

[brewens]

4. They have had those rubber thumbs and whatever they call that stuff you put on your fingers for

years, just for that reason. It's hard to handle paper without something. A small grocery store I go to has a dude that wears surgical gloves while checking. He's done it for years. Because of the germs and because he can handle the bills easier.

[Orrex]

7. Exactly my thought!

A woman at the post office wears nitrile gloves and uses one of those thumb-moistening pads. Significantly cuts down on the incidence of finger-licking!

[tammywammy]

10. Back when I had a job that required flipping through hundreds of papers.

I swore by Sortwik. Not only are you not getting spot everywhere, but it doesn't dry your skin out like saliva.

[Nay]

12. They're called finger cots, and they work well. Licking your fingers in a hospital is

just . . . icky.

[3catwoman3]

11. I have been a nurse practitioner for nearly 40 years...

...and semi-jokingly refer to myself as Lady Macbeth because I wash my hands so often. Not quite to the point of OCD, altho my husband might disagree -

I wash my hands EVERY time I blow my nose. I use paper towels when touching the door knobs in public bathrooms. I have a pair of "basement" shoes that I leave down there and slip on when I go to sift the cats' litter boxes. After many years of effort I finally convinced my husband that it not a great idea to wash dishtowels and underpants in the same laundry load. I have hand sanitizer in my purse and in my car. After I have examined a eally sick kid, I not only wash my hands, I also wipe down my stethescope and sometimes even my pen.

Some things are worth being a tad paranoid about.

If you get a response from the hospital higher-ups, I'd be interested to know what they say.

[Marrah_G]

13. I hope she doesn't lose her job over this.

[Orrex]

14. Same here. That's another reason while I didn't bring it up at the time.

However, I think it's a legitimate concern that needs to be addressed, and if she can't keep her fingers out of her mouth then she needs to be transferred to a position that won't put her in contact with patients or surfaces/objects likely to be touched by patients--for her saftey as well as theirs.

[Marrah_G]

15. Maybe you could bring it to their attention without identifying the woman somehow.

[Orrex]

16. Possibly, but I'm not sure that I'm comfortable with that

We all know how effective those company-wide memos generally are. Even if they send out a policy reminder, then I suspect that the finger-licker will think "well, I never do that," and continue on her merry way.

Honestly, I'm not inclined to be overly sympathetic. "Don't lick your fingers" seems like basic day-one knowledge at any job, and if she doesn't know it by now, then she's culpable. Hell, I would consider this knowledge to be a basic requirement for elgilibity in the first place.