Channel: TopFactology

Category: Education

Tags: proper hand washinghow to wash handschildbed feverhand washingwash your handsdoctor who invented hand washingjoseph listertopfactologyinfection controlhistory of handwashingimportance of washing handsgerm theoryhand hygieneignaz semmelweiswho invented hand washing

Description: ► This video is about a hungarian doctor who discovered the importance of hand washing. He's considered to be the father of 'hand hygiene' and 'infection control'. Brief history of the origin of hand washing. ► Everyone is singing songs and washing their hands these days, as if it is the most common thing in the world, but it wasn't always like this. In fact, even doctors and scientists thought it was useless, till not so long time ago. Ignaz Semmelweis, was a hungarian doctor working in Vienna General Hospital and in 1846 he wondered why so many women were dying of 'childbed fever' at the time. Semmelweis noted that mothers who were tended by midwives had a far lower rate of death and fever than those tended by doctors. It was a "golden age of medicine" where doctors started trying to learn what caused illness by doing autopsies. These started in Vienna hospitals in 1823. It was a point of pride for doctors to walk around in their coats from the last autopsy or surgery they performed, after which they headed straight to the maternity ward to do their shift delivering babies. Based on this observation, Semmelweis developed a theory that those performing autopsies got cadaveric matter on their hands, which they then carried from the autopsy room into the maternity ward. In 1847, Semmelweis introduced mandatory rules for doctors and students to wash their hands in a chlorine and lime solution, and the rate of death dropped dramatically. The innovation was not popular with everyone: some doctors were disgruntled that Semmelweis was implying that they were to blame for the deaths and they stopped washing their hands, arguing in support of the prevailing notion at that time that water and miasmas were the potential cause of disease. In 1850s Semmelweis tried to persuade other doctors in European hospitals of the benefits of handwashing, but to no avail. His theory was rejected and ridiculed. Semmelweis kept pushing his theory; some say he was obsessed with it. Eventually he was taken to a mental institution, where he was beaten and died two weeks later from a blood infection, in August 1865. Sadly, the hand hygiene practices promoted by Semmelweis and later by Florence Nightingale were not widely adopted. The importance of hand washing for medical professionals didn’t really become understood until scientists hit upon germ theory - the idea that certain diseases and infections are caused by microorganisms we can’t even see. In particular, in the 1870s, the British surgeon Joseph Lister drastically improved patient mortality by advocating that surgeons wash their hands and sterilize their instruments in between patients. But, in general, handwashing promotion stood still for over a century and did not become universal until relatively recently. It was not until the 1980s, that the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified hand hygiene as an important way to prevent the spread of infection. Today, medical and health professionals consider hand washing a critical hygienic practice, both for themselves and their patients. Washing your hands with soap is one of the most important and cost-effective things you can do to help prevent and control the spread of many illnesses, thus saving lives too. More than a century after Semmelweis’s theories were mocked, the Medical University of Budapest changed its name to Semmelweis University, in honour of his unsung persistence to improve healthcare through cleanliness. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you have enjoyed the video, please show some LOVE by LIKING, COMMENTING and SUBSCRIBING to my channel! ► SUBSCRIBE: goo.gl/Vn6TVo - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #TopFactology #WashYourHands #HandWashing - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For any Copyright issues, please reach out to us first before filing a claim with YouTube. Send us a message or email detailing your concerns and we'll make sure the matter is resolved immediately. All contact details in our channel's "About" page! Please, consider "fair use" before filing any claim. Thank You! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - IS0449 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Music: Youtube Library