Here’s a novel idea…

Why don’t you try to reduce hospital acquired infections with campaigns that actually work?

Too often, hospitals and healthcare organizations just pump out generic posters, corny phrases on stickers, and plant some “champions” among us to try to motivate us. But generic messages only add to the Sign Fatigue we all experience. (Kind of like those annoying banner ads on web pages. After a while, we don’t even see them anymore.) Plus, we’re always a little cautious… can’t be too racey… can’t be too controversial… don’t wanna rock the boat… what would marketing say? or worse, what would legal say?

Well, sometimes you just have to say, “WTF?” (Why The Foley?)

Click on the icons to see other WTF – Why The Foley? gifts, signs, shirts, and more:

More ideas for infection control:

• Hand Washing – C. diff Clarice
• Hand Washing – C. diff Taste
• C. diff Crossing
• MRSA Crossing
• Got Foley? Sign
• C. diff Shared Among Friends

This bench sits in front of a hospital, right next to the GI lab. This happens to be the bench by the drop-off and pick up site for elderly patients too.

Quite naturally, I blame the Joint Commission. After all, they’re the ones who make us toss our expired GoLytely. The stuff still works… here’s proof:

What do you expect when your job is all about putting out other peoples’ fires?

Check out GiggleMed.com’s Joint Commission humor gifts.

Infection control humor for education?…

Evidence-based medicine cartoon books?…

What next? Agreement on healthcare reform?!

Look… the educational materials in the healthcare professions can be pretty dry, downright boring, and ultimately, awesome dust magnets. So, we’re trying to change things a little bit (and not without some controversy).

We’re releasing a new book today – a funny, witty, medical humor book with evidence-based advice on infection control practices. This isn’t some cute little healthcare limerick you post up at staff meeting… or some cheesy nursing clip art for bulletin boards that no one looks at…

No. This is Bugs on Scrubs, a hilarious argument between a nurse and a doctor about who is spreading infection – and an interesting, all-too-familiar twist at the end. We’re releasing it today at the pre-ISBN, pre-real-publication price of only 10 bucks.

Medical humor and medical education have a love child, Bugs on Scrubs, and it’s only 10 clams.

This thing is awesome for staff orientation, infection control initiatives, and getting those picky Joint Commissioners off your organization’s back. Oh yeah… and the holidays too. This book makes a great gift for nurses, doctors, hospital administrators, techs, therapists, and that dude that always wipes his nose right before he tries to shake your hand. Check it out.

Does the threat of a Joint Commission visit have your organization in a panic? Well, don’t worry… just check in with GiggleMed.com’s TJC Accredit-8-Ball™. Click and briefly hold the mouse down to give the ball a good roll. The Accredit-8-Ball™ will give you an idea of where your organization stands with Joint Commission.

Find out now… just give it a click (you need Flash to be able to see this doo-hickey).

By the way, we have more Joint Commission humor at JCAHO fun.com. And, of course, a bunch of funny Joint Commission medical humor gifts at our store… Use coupon code “WAFFLEMUSTER” during November to get $5 off of your order.

DISCLAIMER: This site has no formal association with the Joint Commission. Your use of the Accredit-8-Ball™ in no way predicts success or failure with your Joint Commission surveys. Actually, trusting the results of the Accredit-8-Ball™ is highly associated with loss of accreditation.

I just posted a new Chart Farts® video on YouTube…

It has all of the usual (hilarious) samples from the Chart Farts® collection… but this one has a twist at the end that will cause a small subset of you will wet yourself when you see it. The rest of you will just wonder… WTF? (hint: you have to be older than 30 to get it… or have some weird fascination with watching re-runs of old, 1980s sitcoms)

In any case, the Joint Commission won’t like it…

But hey, I laugh at doctor jokes… nurses laugh at nurse jokes…

(: medicine is fun again :)

Next week is National Nurses Week.  Now I hope you’re prepared… Many of you will see some horrendous  “gifts” given by hospitals to the nursing staff.  To preempt these Nurses Week gift atrocities, here is a list of gifts you really should never give to a nurse on Nurses Week… actually, ever:

1 – An engraved bed pan

2 – Breath mints packaged in cute little specimen cups

3 – An ink stamper that reads: “Verbal order. Repeated and read back.”

4 – A coffee mug for the nurse’s station that reads: “JCAHO Schmayko”

5 – A coupon for free biohazzard tattoos

6 – The unveiling of yet another form for nurses to fill out “to make things easier”

7 – Buttons that read: “Doctor’s Little Helper”

Post some real-life ridiculous gifts you’ve seen in the comments below.

Watch for awesome freebies coming on Monday, May 4th for you to give away to your nursing friends and colleagues… just to say thanks during Nurses Week.

OK. This is disgusting…

I posted a question in Twitter where I asked people what they thought was growing on top of those hand gel dispensers. And a whole bunch of people sent me back some disgusting stories.

Not a week later… a friend of mine sees this (below) and sends me a picture from his iPhone. He had just finished seeing a patient in isolation for C.diff and almost swiped his hand across the top of someone’s drink that was resting on the isolation cart.

It got me thinkin’… maybe I should make pre-formatted PDFs for printing on stickers. Sure, we can write policy after policy… we can clean all of the cups up when the Joint Commissioners are on another floor… but if you really want to reach someone, do it with humor. I bet putting a C.diff sticker on that drink would do two things – (1) it would make them laugh, and (2) it would make them think.

If you have any ideas for stickers, let me know. In the meantime, I’ve posted a bunch of medical humor products that could serve the same purpose at the GiggleMed Store.

I toyed with the idea of a C.diff humor St. Patty’s Day promotion, but then came to my senses. Anyway, here’s the link:

The power of gloves is a curious thing
Make one doc safe, and another nurse clean
Reduces risk from things you didn’t think of
More than policy, that’s the power of gloves

You don’t want MRSA, or C.diff
Don’t want fluids or a really big whiff
Takes time to wear ‘em. It’s annoying sometimes
But it might just save your life
That’s the power of gloves
That’s the power of gloves

(full audio coming soon… tons of medical humor songs)