Circular Referencing and its Detrimental Impact on Healthcare Attire Laundering Principles and Practices
By John Scherberger , FAHE , T-CSCT , VPEI
If one were to indulge oneself and secure several research papers on a subject such as “ scrubs contamination ,” one would find the same references being quoted time and time again , as if echoing the same studies supported their positions .
This is what is known as circular referencing .
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May 1847 , a Hungarian-born physician who received his MD degree in Vienna in 1844 understood from his observations that women who were assisted in childbirth by physicians were dying at a higher rate than women assisted by midwives . Physicians had bloody hands , and midwives did not . He concluded that medical students and physicians were carrying “ cadaverous particles ” on their hands . He introduced a policy of using a solution of chlorinated lime for washing their hands before and after examining patients . Not all physicians embraced the approach even though the death rates declined in the approach ’ s areas . Many physicians claimed he had not researched his theory sufficiently . But fewer women died , while others continued to die at the unwashed hands of physicians who refused to wash their hands .
Known now “ as the father of infection control ,” Dr . Ignaz Semmelweis ’ s observations conflicted with the established scientific and medical opinions , as well as the egos of physicians . The medical community rejected his ideas . He could offer no scientific explanation for his findings other than women were not dying ( which was a powerful confirmation of his observational results ). Some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands and mocked him for it .
Most environmental services directors and all infection preventionists have heard of Heinrich Hermann , Robert Koch , Louis Pasteur , and Joseph Lister . How many have heard of physicians including Ibn Sina from the 11th century , Ibn Khatima and Ibn al-Khatib from the 14th century , Girolamo Fracastoro from the 16th century , or Marcus von Plenciz from the 18th century ? They all espoused primary forms of what is known today as “ germ theory .” Europe disparaged their views . Galen ’ s miasma ( bad air ) theory remained dominant among scientists and doctors . The “ germ theory of disease ” is the currently accepted scientific theory for many diseases .
The “ germ theory of disease ” states that pathogenic microorganisms can lead to disease . These tiny organisms , too small to see without magnification , invade humans , other animals , and other living hosts . Their growth and reproduction within their hosts can cause disease .
“ Germ ” may refer to not just a bacterium but to any microorganism , such as protists or fungi , or even non-living pathogens that can cause diseases , such as viruses , prions , or viroids . Diseases caused by pathogens are called infectious diseases . Even when a pathogen is the principal cause of a disease , environmental and hereditary factors often influence the severity and whether a potential host individual becomes infected when exposed to the pathogen .
However , Ibn al-Khatib explored disease transmission through contagion centuries before Louis Pasteur conducted his experiments in Europe . In his treatise On the Plague , Ibn al-Khatib wrote , “ The existence of contagion is established by experience [ and ] by trustworthy reports on transmission by garments , vessels , ear-rings ; by the spread of it by persons from one house , by infection of a healthy sea-port by an arrival from an infected land [ and ] by the immunity of isolated individuals .”
Ibn al-Khatib wrote this in the 14th century , 700- plus years ago , long before Galileo Galilei perfected the first device known as a microscope in 1609 . The first compound microscopes date to 1590 , but the Dutch Antony Van Leeuwenhoek first used them in