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In a tearful press conference last week, a few people affected by hospital infections thanked the governor for signing bills that will, hopefully, limit the infections' spread.

(Read "Widow thanks governor for bill to curb health care infections" on Bakersfield.com)

Senate Bill 158, which was sponsored by Sen. Dean Florez, requires health facilities to develop a patient safety plan and train staff on infection control measures. The bill requires the state Department of Public Health to report hospitals’ infection control procedures and incidences of infections annually.

Also signed was Senate Bill 1058, sponsored by Sen. Elaine Alquist, which requires hospitals to screen patients and meet sanitation requirements.

Carole Moss, who lost her 15-year-old son to a hospital-acquired drug-resistant staph infection, spoke at the press conference.

Her and her husband started Nile's Project to educate families on these infections.

Here are some tips she offered to reduce the risk of hospital infection:

• Ask that hospital staff clean their hands before treating you and ask visitors to clean their hands. If you’re worried about being too aggressive, just remember your life could be at stake. Don’t be falsely assured by gloves. If caregivers have pulled on gloves without cleaning their hands first, the gloves are already contaminated before they touch you.
• Before your doctor uses a stethoscope ask that the diaphragm (the flat surface) be wiped with alcohol. Stethoscopes and other equipment are often contaminated with dangerous bacteria.
• If you need a “central line” catheter, ask your doctor about the benefits of one that is antibiotic-impregnated or antiseptic-coated to reduce infections.
• If you need surgery, choose a surgeon with a low infection rate. Surgeons know their rate of infection for various procedures. Don’t be afraid to ask.
• Beginning three to five days before surgery, shower or bathe daily with chlorhexidine soap. It can be bought without a prescription and will help remove dangerous bacteria you may be carrying on your own skin.
• Ask your surgeon to have you tested for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) at least one week before coming to the hospital. The test is simple, usually just a nasal swab. If you have it, extra precautions can be taken to protect you from infection.
• Stop smoking well in advance of your surgery. Patients who smoke are three times as likely to develop a surgical site infection as nonsmokers.
• On the day of your operation, remind your doctor that you may need an antibiotic one hour before the first incision. For many types of surgery, a pre-surgery antibiotic is the standard of care but is often overlooked by busy hospital staff.
• Ask your doctor about keeping you warm during surgery. For many types of surgery, patients who are kept warm resist infection better. This can be done with special blankets, warmed IV liquids, hats and booties. After surgery, when it’s time to try walking, request clean booties before getting back into bed. Do not track bacteria from the floor into your sheets.
• Do not shave the surgical site. Razors can create small nicks in the skin, through which bacteria can enter. If necessary, ask that clippers be used.
• Wash your hands frequently. Avoid touching your hands to your mouth, and do not set food or utensils on furniture or bed sheets. Germs such as “C.Diff” can live for many days on surfaces and can cause infections if they get into your mouth.
• Ask your doctor about monitoring your glucose (sugar) levels continuously during and after surgery, especially if you are having cardiac surgery.
• Avoid a urinary tract catheter if possible. This is a common cause of infection. If you have a catheter, ask your caregiver to remove it as soon as possible.
• If you must have an IV, make sure it’s inserted and removed under clean conditions and changed every three to four days. Alert hospital staff immediately if any redness appears.
• If you are planning to have a baby by Cesarean, take the steps listed above.

While the focus of the press conference and legislation was on hospital-acquired infections, Moss had some tips for preventing MRSA in schools:

• Encourage students to clean their hands frequently.
• Parents, tuck a small container of hand sanitizer in your child's book bag, if your child is mature enough to use it properly.
• Educators, ensure that all shared equipment (wrestling mats, baseball gloves, gymnastics equipment, etc.) and locker room facilities, such as benches, are cleaned with detergents, which must remain on the surfaces for at least three minutes. Quickly spraying and wiping is not effective.
• School authorities should periodically have surfaces in the gym and classrooms cultured, to know the extent of MRSA contamination.
• Warn students not to share gym clothes, towels and other personal items. MRSA bacteria can live on fabrics and hard surfaces for up to 90 days.
• Educators, install dispensers inside each classroom. Students should not have to get a hall pass to leave the classroom to clean their hands.
• Warn students against sharing bars of soap. Use pump dispensers only.
• Educators, make sure that when a student gets a cut or abrasion on the playground or in class, it is cleaned immediately by someone whose hands are also clean. Classrooms should have a first aid kit or ready access to the help of a school nurse.
• School authorities should investigate the anti-microbial coatings available for use on sports equipment and other high-touch surfaces and washable keyboards for computers.
• Athletes, gym teachers and coaches are at higher risk of exposure to MRSA. In high contact sports MRSA screening may be advisable.