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

Typhoid Mary, we miss you. Well, not really… we just miss the fact that there was only one of you. These days we have a whole fleet. (And no, I’m not talkin’ enema, here. I’m not sure why GiggleMed readers always revert to middle school humor, but c’mon… I’m trying to be serious here.) If you thought Typhoid Mary had issues, check out C. diff Clarice.

It’s time to spice up your infection control campaign with humor. One of two things is happening for you: (A) Your hand washing numbers are still in the toilet, or (B) You are having awesome success. If your numbers are in the toilet, what you’re trying isn’t working. Try humor. And if your numbers are awesome, it undoubtedly came with some effort – so show a little appreciation to the people in the trenches.

In short, show them this:

Feel free to use this image in your talks and presentations (as long as you include the attribution to GiggleMed.com). Just right click on the image & choose “Save As…” (PC) or “Save Image As…” (Mac).

Check out these hilarious infection control humor gifts:

And if you think GiggleMed products are awesome (or even if you don’t), check out Despair. I cannot look at their products without laughing out loud. They’re the inspiration behind our medical ‘inspirational’ signs (like the one above). After you buy something from GiggleMed, go here:

Quick disclosure, Ladies and Germs… GiggleMed.com might earn a piddly commission if you click through any links on our site (and that is the case with every link in this blog post).

Hand washing is, of course, a major concern in the healthcare setting. Too often, though, the infection control campaigns that hospitals and large organizations role out are boring, dry, or even counter-productive (when using negative social proof – “Only 40% of our physicians are using proper hand washing techniques”).

If you really want to control infection, improve hand washing technique, increase compliance, etc… then stop being so stuffy about it. You can be boring or you can be effective.
If you want effective infection control, try something people will remember.

Feel free to use this image in your talks and presentations (as long as you include the attribution to GiggleMed.com). Just right click on the image & choose “Save As…” (PC) or “Save Image As…” (Mac). By the way, watch for the new GiggleMed.com exclusive members only area. Coming very soon. (Why am I mentioning it here? (1) To get all of the people asking me about it off of my back, (2) You will have access to hundreds of downloads like this one for use in your presentations, (3) Marketers tell me I need to build anticipation, and (4) I’m thinking up some awesome prizes for members.)

Check out these hilarious infection control humor gifts:

Hospital acquired infection, healthcare associated infection… the name keeps changing, but who cares what we call it (as long as we keep the abbreviation the same – HAI – for the sake of The Literature and all of these signs we’ve made).

Healthcare associated infection is, of course, a huge concern. Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), catheter-associated infections (central lines, Foleys, etc), C. diff, MRSA, and many others (here’s a HAI list from the CDC).

At GiggleMed.com, we applaud the efforts of Kimberly-Clark Corporation in creating the HAI Watchdog Community (but not so much in the sturdiness of the Scott toilet paper my wife bought in bulk from Sam’s… that’s a gripe for another day) as it seems to be one of the better efforts at reducing such infections without instilling fear in the masses that we’re being invaded.

But of course, we think one of the best ways to educate people and influence them to change for the better, is through humor. So naturally, we changed some of their signs around:

We also like to use such efforts to shamelessly plug our educational medical humor/humorous medical education products:

Check out these (Not-So Funny) HAI resources:

• HAI Watchdog Community
• Tools to raise HAI awareness at your facility
• HAI list from the CDC
• More coming soon…

Disclaimer: GiggleMed.com has absolutely no financial relationship with Kimberly-Clark or any other large corporation (yet). But if they (or any of their competitors) would like to ask us about co-branding our Bugs on Scrubs text, we’d certainly consider it :) Hint, hint… nudge, nudge… wink, wink.

As healthcare reimbursement plummets, as malpractice lawyers gain more air time, and as the healthcare industry becomes hyper-regulated, it should come as no surprise that we may need to make our profession a little more interesting and even fun, to get qualified applicants. Medical education, nursing schools, and science classes may need to insert more humor into our education.

Enter Captain Higgins (from TheOatmeal.com)

He’s is the coolest parasite ever… hands down.

Sure… call me strange… but when I was perusing the latest issue of ACP Hospitalist, I came across a photo from a recent IDSA Conference.

IDSA (Infectious Disease Society of America), of course, is a well-respected organization of healthcare professionals devoted to patient care, education, research, public health, and prevention relating to infectious diseases.

Well, I wondered as I looked at the audience in this photo…

What’s up with all of the baldness and receding hairlines in the ID crowd?

(Not that there’s anything wrong with that…)

PS – I blurred out the faces because nothing screams “LAWSUIT!” more than bunch of angry, bald doctors.

Science humor and infectious disease jokes… for some of these you’ll just groan. For others, if you laugh at them, you are never permitted to refer to anyone else as a “geek” or a “nerd” again. And if you like this video, you’ll love GiggleMed’s new book, “Bugs on Scrubs” – a great holiday gift for geeks like you – especially if they work in healthcare.

Not nearly as corny as some of the jokes above… Bugs on Scrubs is the new medical humor book about a knock-down, drag-out, open-up-a-can argument between a nurse and a doctor… It’s a great gift idea and it’s only 10 bucks. Get it now. Just click on this book:

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.

If everyone in hospitals is supposed to use hand gel sanitizer, well then, that means that everyone in the hospital is touching the tops of these things…everyone… Not only that, everyone when their hands are their dirtiest, most soiled, and most infectious. So who washes the top of these bad boys?

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: