He studied two maternity wards in the General hospital of Vienna. One was staffed by all male doctors and medical students, and the other was staffed by female midwives. It was pretty plain to see that more women were dying from Puerperal fever in the former maternity ward than the latter.
After a couple failed theories he hit on 'hand-washing' with bleach. See, the all-male doctor ward also performed autopsies on their dead patients. Semmelweis concluded that the pregnant women in their ward were being exposed to microscopic bits of cadaver that were causing the disease. He choose bleach, not because it killed germs (germs weren't yet discovered) but because it eliminated the 'dead' smell.
His hand-washing procedures worked. incident rates dropped from about 10% to 1-2%. A pretty dramatic decrease.
The learned fellows from the all-doctors ward though didn't' buy though. Apparently the theory implicated 'them' as the contributors to the high-rate of this disease. The hand-washing practice was discontinued, Semmelweis was fired and eventually committed.
It wasn't until Louis Pasteurs germ discovery 3 or 4 decades later that good hygiene practices were put in place.
Doc Ignaz's ultimate contribution to science....
Semmelweis Org wrote:
THE SEMMELWEIS REFLEX
The Semmelweis reflex or “Semmelweis effect†is a metaphor for the reflex-like tendency to reject new evidence or new knowledge because it contradicts established norms, beliefs or paradigms.
The Semmelweis reflex or “Semmelweis effect†is a metaphor for the reflex-like tendency to reject new evidence or new knowledge because it contradicts established norms, beliefs or paradigms.
Consider this your public safety tip of the day: The single best method of preventing germs from being spread is, still today, hand-washing.
Edited, Jan 12th 2015 8:18pm by Elinda