
Program Will Monitor Md. Doctors' Hand-Washing
Be sure to wash up, Maryland doctors and nurses. You're being watched. State officials said Tuesday they're creating teams of staff members at hospitals around the state to secretly monitor their colleagues' hand-washing habits as part of a first-of-its-kind program. The monitors will contribute to a systemwide report on hand-washing, using $100,000 in federal stimulus money. Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown said individuals who are lax on scrubbing up won't be penalized. Rather, the idea is to gather information about which hospital staffs need to do a better job and raise awareness about the importance of keeping hands clean while dealing with patients "This certainly is not an effort to do a gotcha," Brown said. "We're better off with providers...