In 1846, at Vienna General Hospital, doctors walked straight from autopsies to delivering babies. Their unwashed hands carried death between rooms.
Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis noticed something disturbing. The mortality rate in the doctors’ maternity ward was five times higher than in the midwives’ ward. The midwives washed their hands.
He implemented mandatory hand washing with chlorine. Death rates plummeted from 18% to under 2%.
Yet his colleagues rejected him. They were offended by the suggestion that their hands – the hands of educated gentlemen – could cause harm. Their pride cost lives.
The medical establishment ostracized Semmelweis. He died in an asylum, his warnings unheeded. It would take decades before Louis Pasteur’s germ theory proved him right.
This isn’t just about 19th-century hubris. Every day, we walk through life, leaving invisible traces of our actions. Our impact ripples further than we know.
Modern hospitals still battle with hand hygiene compliance. Despite knowing better, healthcare workers wash their hands less than 50% of the recommended times, according to the CDC.
The truth stings. Facing our potential for harm requires more courage than celebrating our healing touch. But that confrontation is where real transformation begins.
Excellence demands we examine not just what we’re doing right but what we might be doing wrong.
Your greatest blind spot isn’t what you don’t know – it’s what you think you know for sure.
