41–50 of 57 posts
Is it just me, or is this a recipe for slippery sanitizer-covered floors after people bump into these handles and trigger the pump? (Whether deliberately, by opening the door with their backs with hands full, or inadvertently just walking around in a crowded corridor.)
What about my carefully cultivated habit of not touching the door? If I change habits and start touching doors someday I'll mistakenly touch the wrong door. If I mistakenly touch the wrong door I'll start spreading The Disease.
The handles on inward opening doors are a vector for bacteria because there is no way of physically interacting with them without using your hands and touching the same place as everyone else. This product does not solve this problem, but instead tries to insert itself into the users' task flow at precisely the time when their goals are focused elsewhere (on opening the door). This is a rude interruption and will lik…
I have never in my life seen so many motion sensor things from doors to sinks, so many sanitizer dispensers, reminders to sanitize things like keyboards/mice, and reminders/opportunities to get personal protective equipment. Like, not even at other hospitals. While he was in the ICU especially, you could tell: there was a bin for soiled linens, a bin for trash.... then a bin that was basically only used for dirty paper towels right after washing your hands because it's right next to the sink right next to the door (and sometimes there were multiple sinks in a single private room...), and usually another bin for used gowns/masks/gloves next to that since one trash bin generally wasn't enough even if it was emptied 2-3 times a day.
The dispensers especially were all over the place in your face at regular intervals in every area and at all room entrances/exits and then some, so you had no excuse not to use it (hello random visitor who told me to not push elevator buttons with my fingers because "it's a hospital and ewww germs!") While I know part of the reason for this door handle design was because people forget to use sanitizer even though they know better... even super harried ED and ICU staff were using them because it was so fast and stick-your-arm-out-in-a-second-while-leaving convenient. I don't think I saw someone _not_ do that.
I think the solution to this problem is not a door handle, but to design a hospital around this idea in the first place with the assumption that we forget - a lot of this can be retrofitted with great success.
I also think that these kind of gels give a false sense of security, I have anywhere up to four different carers coming through this house on any given day using the stuff. And they do something that might be slightly medical in nature, then it's a quick squirt of the gel and hey presto no more tiny stinky biting things! But that is absolutely NOT how they work, these gels are generally designed to be used AFTER wash…
Gels and hand washing are one things, but how about actually wearing gloves and changing them when you are about to touch a patient?
Because emergencies can occur anywhere, [e.g. a few years ago my sister-in-law was a code blue in the CT-room -- and that's how the staff remembered her following her recovery], doors and walls and everything below a certain height must be designed for impact by a fast moving fully loaded hospital bed.
One of the reasons door handles are so big and bulky to begin with is that's where they get hit, and they get hit to prevent damaging the door. Hospitals place scrub sinks in alcoves and up high. Same with the typical hand-sanitizer stations.
The other concern with the design is that it creates places for bacteria to 'hide' from cleaning - the seams and hinges of the door handle that allow access for refills and that operate the dispensing mechanism. Of more concern is that these are places where a health-care worker will place their hands and that by incorporating these into an architectural specialty, they are not disposable and require ongoing cleaning.
Monolithic is good. Anything that requires manipulation should fit in an autoclave or be disposable.
The handles on inward opening doors are a vector for bacteria because there is no way of physically interacting with them without using your hands and touching the same place as everyone else. This product does not solve this problem, but instead tries to insert itself into the users' task flow at precisely the time when their goals are focused elsewhere (on opening the door). This is a rude interruption and will lik…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
No problem, from the CDC[0] report entitled "Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care Settings"[1] From that reference it says, we have: "Alcohols are not appropriate for use when hands are visibly dirty or contaminated with proteinaceous materials." "Alcohols are rapidly germicidal when applied to the skin, but they have no appreciable persistent (i.e., residual) activity." "Despite its effectiveness against these…
>but I think they're not a cureall was my point. I honestly don't know a single nurse / medical staff or even IT person in a hospital or university that thinks they are, though. You might not be giving people enough credit. Anecdotal, yes, but I've never seen people think of them as a "cureall" or even as a replacement of washing hands. It is always in addition or inbetween things where you can't get to a handwashing…
So yes, anecdotes for sure. But that's one hell of a lot of anecdotes. :-)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>but I think they're not a cureall was my point. I honestly don't know a single nurse / medical staff or even IT person in a hospital or university that thinks they are, though. You might not be giving people enough credit. Anecdotal, yes, but I've never seen people think of them as a "cureall" or even as a replacement of washing hands. It is always in addition or inbetween things where you can't get to a handwashing…
You're absolutely right, my evidence is anecdotal. But I'm 36 years old now, and I've been in and out of hospital probably thousands of times and had medical care each day in one form or another. So yes, anecdotes for sure. But that's one hell of a lot of anecdotes. :-)
Is it just me, or is this a recipe for slippery sanitizer-covered floors after people bump into these handles and trigger the pump? (Whether deliberately, by opening the door with their backs with hands full, or inadvertently just walking around in a crowded corridor.)
Please explain how you open a pull door with your back.
In any case, I still think there is risk having this ambiguous button like thing, both from passersby bumping it and from normal use. And, as my comment (and the immortal Far Side comic) illustrates, many pull doors and push doors look confusingly similar, so people will push the pull handles.
Also, may I suggest making your correction in a friendlier way next time? Especially because it is possible that the person you're correcting may not be the total doofus you imagine them to be!