Why doctors don't wash their hands and other medical mysteries | Dr. Robert Pearl | TEDxDavenport

Physicians take an oath to first do no harm, and yet they contribute to 100,000 deaths a year from hospital-acquired infection. Research shows that one in three times when doctors go from one hospital room to the next, they don’t wash their hands, a simple step to avoid infection. At the same time, during the COVID pandemic despite not having the protective gear needed, physicians cared for severely ill patients, putting their own lives at high risk. Both actions seem illogical until you understand the medical culture that doctors learn in medical school and carry with them throughout their professional careers. A surgeon, healthcare CEO and highly acclaimed author, Dr. Pearl explores these medical mysteries, pulls back the curtain on the culture of medicine, and offers advice for people on how they can benefit from its positive side, but avoid the dangers that lurk in its shadows.

[Musicaladykat]

I worked in a hospital for forty years. I never saw a doctor who did not wash his hands or us hand sanitizer.

[irenechavez]

Dr. Pearl's leadership is legendary and his legacy lives on - Keep the patient in the center of our focus, keep them safe and do no harm.

[lizzygold]

$32, 000 weekly profit Our lord Jesus have lifted up my Life!!!

[innotafanofanyofjlbjlbissd]

Can you imagine, dying cause a doctor is too arrogant or lazy to wash their hands

[ndwtlvl]

Dr. Pearl does a great job in opening his discussion using the beginning of a individual’s medical journey as reflecting on the oath that we take in medical school to “do no harm, ” but then switches the tone to inform us of how hospital acquired infections fall within the top five causes of death within the United States. Through his tone, Dr. Pearl heavily weighs on how accessible it is at any medical institution to either wash hands or use alcohol-based sanitizers to reduce transmission of common clostridium difficile infections which are contact based. He continually brings in the ethical principle of non-maleficence and how simply doctors, who are scientists, should understand the methodology and importance of minimizing infectious spread between seeing patients, to reduce harm and create safe environments, just as promised through the oath that they took years prior at the beginning of their medical careers. Through stressing the importance of hand hygiene, Dr. Pearl shines light on the culture of denial in medicine, the resistance in healers’ mentality of hierarchy and implementing positive change towards greater health. I agree with Dr. Pearl in his emphasis of the power dynamics and status in medical professionals leading to denial and objective thoughts in taking responsibility for poor outcomes in patient care. As a figure of authority, Dr. Pearl, former CEO of Kaiser Permanente Medical Group, has taken such an extremely impactful standpoint on the negative culture that medicine and healthcare professionals can radiate, manifested through burnout, egotistical thought processes, and the impacts of mental health that can demonstrate the problems that exist and impact the health of the general community population and the lack of preventative practices through denial of change and avoidance of diseases.

[LydiaVacs]

You know what would stop this? Make medical school easier (The material can be difficult but let them have an hour a day for a life) and stop overloading them with patients. I worked in an outpatient clinic as a scribe and my physician sometimes saw 75 patients a day. Give physicians a chance to do the right thing and they will.

[robertmcdaniel]

Those numbers are nuts ...like that is legit professional negligence

[unievrsal-tube]

The last three years i have seen TEDx, my intension to be come english speakre, but it realy helps me to share how i realize life by it slef, to get more confident and how i change my self because of thier experiance how they share, i really say thanks all

[michaelwright]

America needs (like every developed country) universal single payer Medicare for All and end the greed and corruption

[berylcomar]

Florence Nightingale made her nurses clean rooms and uniforms and hands .... at a time that doctors didn’t in the Crimea War.
There’s a fascinating museum to her work in Istanbul

[smallfootprint]

I watch, and care when a doctor or nurse washes his or her hands when they come in the room. I wanted to see one particular doctor in my small town that believed in using diet as part of preventative medicine, however I became acutely aware that he used the bathroom before seeing me, and didn't wash his hands after. I never said anything, as I was planning to move. I watch, and sm glad my current doc/np does wash her hands when entering the room. Not sure if it helps as the intake nurse doesn't. She or he uses the computer, takes my vitals, and sometimes runs an ekg on me, so touches my skin all without sanitizing their hands. I have been in a hospital a few times, and every time have acquired some kind of infection. If there's any way to stay out of a hospital, I'd like to try.

[MrDarkbluewater]

To be fair, I cannot ask someone to wash their hands every 5 minutes in good conscience. I know my skin couldn't take that.
Though also, over here they just put single use gloves on in professions where clean hands are very important. Like I don't think I have ever seen my dentist wash their hands, they always just put on gloves when they enter the room.

[ncmjzxu]

This goes utterly against the grain, and, certainly, it does not happen either in Spain or any other European country...it should be taken place in the States, where money is the most important issue in the world, so absurd, and obnoxious, indeed...incidentally, his non verbal language, tone, intonation, in a nutshell his way of speaking is..unbereable

[Kopfootball]

For every obstacle there is a solution. Persistence is the key. The greatest mistake is giving up!

[safieshirmohammadli]

The brave women of Iran are sacrificing their lives on the streets against oppression and injustice. Please be our voice

[ToriDO]

Dr. Pearl brings up such an interesting point about the culture of denial in medicine. The medical system is so resistant to change, and so many interventions are done as a “gold standard” because that is just what is done, without considering other options. I think this sometimes crosses the ethical line of non-maleficence, resulting in poorer outcomes. The biggest example I can think of is not using diet and exercise as a bigger tool to improve patient health. It’s true that patient cooperation is required for this to work, but it seems to me that prescribing an exercise regimen instead of a statin will provide more benefit to the willing patient. Side effects of statins can be pretty severe, yet they’re one of the most prescribed drugs. Wouldn’t it be better for the patient’s health as a whole to prescribe a detailed exercise regimen that will not only improve the patient’s risk for CV disease, but also improve mental and physical health? I feel like there are many times in medicine that the gold standard is what is easy, and that this is ultimately harming patients.

[mSingh-fhfz]

While I agree with Dr. Robert Pearl’s view that patients should be and must be involved actively in their care in order to be as safe and healthy as possible, I do not agree that poor health outcomes are due to physician denial. Dr. Pearl talks about how doctors are in denial about the role they play in spreading infection, how easy it can be for they themselves to become ill, and how deadly lax standards for sanitization and disinfecting can be. I believe the real reason physicians do not wash their hands and maintain cleanliness standards as well as they should is the same reason why most all healthcare professionals have become more forgetful - burnout. Burnout makes it impossible to continuously uphold the ethical principle of non-maleficence. Non-maleficence is one of the four ethical principles of medicine, and it is the obligation health practitioners have to “do no harm”. In the strictest sense, this principle is not being violated by the general medical community - nurses and doctors are not going out of their way to put their patients in danger. However, through the effects of burnout, professionals are placing patients in dangerous positions due to time constraints, unmanageable workloads, ineffective hospital administrations, and poor compensation. It is hard to be vigilant about even the smallest, and yet most important, of details when one’s plate is stacked up with hundreds of other more obvious problems. I believe the key to cutting down hospital-acquired infections is to relieve the pressure placed on medical professionals through effective changes and adequate support. I do not feel as though denial is what is holding doctors back from doing what is best for their patients - they place themselves in harm’s way because they place duty above their own health, but they also place patients in harm's way because their time and mental space is stretched too thin.

[dr.saleeby]

Now we need to take a closer look at our vaccine policies.

[chaz]

All doctors have scientific training but very few are scientists. These days many of them have been reduced to protocol followers which effectively means they're highly trained technicians, not independently thinking professionals. Replacement by AI is right over the horizon.

[georgeduncan]

arrogance...power....corrupts absolutely😵😵🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢