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I don't get it. Surely they were made illegal by the EU directive and the following Italian decree. That doesn't mean that people in Italian hospitals having

by jaclaz 4y ago

I don't get it. Surely they were made illegal by the EU directive and the following Italian decree. That doesn't mean that people in Italian hospitals having thermometers break in the mouth (or other orifices) was "not uncommon" (possibly we use different definitions for not uncommon). Unless - of course - you can recall many cases in your 40 years of acquaintenance with hospitals in Italy. Let's say that a hospital has 100 beds and average stay is one week, that should be in the ballpark of at least 52x100x2 (temperature checks) = 10,000 measurements per year x 40 years around 400,000 uses of thermometers (possibly many more). How many of these accidents can you remember roughly (1, 10, 100, 1000)?

peoplefromibiza 4y ago
> That doesn't mean that people in Italian hospitals having thermometers break in the mouth (or other orifices) was "not uncommon" As I've said, I'm familiar with the specificity of Italian hospitals, and I'm saying to you it was not uncommon. Does not mean very often, it means "something every person working in healthcare has been trained for, because it happens (happened) more often than you might think". Especially if you think about the fact that I've already specified that they simply broke, not that "they broke in people's mouth" all the times. > Let's say that a hospital has 100 beds and average stay is one week Let's say that the average Italian hospital in big cities has hundreds of beds, at the times of the ban on mercury Rome had ~6 beds every 1,000 residents, US had 2.7 of them. Let's also add that in Italian hospitals you don't pay for the bed. My mom stayed in hospital for 6 months when she had tuberculosis. Many of the patients in the same ward staid on average for a year. > 10,000 measurements per year That's per week here, probably more than that. The hospital where my parents worked has > 1 thousand beds and > 5 thousands employees. Not counting the ER and daily scheduled examinations. And it's not the biggest one.
- jaclaz 4y ago
  >That's per week here, probably more than that. Good, so in a week, or 10,000 thermometers uses, how many broke, on average? 1, 10 or 100? And we are talking only of those that you prompted to imagine the danger of: >Imagine the danger of a glass tube filled with mercury breaking while measuring the temperature anally or from the mouth.

by jaclaz 4y ago

peoplefromibiza 4y ago

> That doesn't mean that people in Italian hospitals having thermometers break in the mouth (or other orifices) was "not uncommon" As I've said, I'm familiar with the specificity of Italian hospitals, and I'm saying to you it was not uncommon. Does not mean very often, it means "something every person working in healthcare has been trained for, because it happens (happened) more often than you might think". Especially if you think about the fact that I've already specified that they simply broke, not that "they broke in people's mouth" all the times. > Let's say that a hospital has 100 beds and average stay is one week Let's say that the average Italian hospital in big cities has hundreds of beds, at the times of the ban on mercury Rome had ~6 beds every 1,000 residents, US had 2.7 of them. Let's also add that in Italian hospitals you don't pay for the bed. My mom stayed in hospital for 6 months when she had tuberculosis. Many of the patients in the same ward staid on average for a year. > 10,000 measurements per year That's per week here, probably more than that. The hospital where my parents worked has > 1 thousand beds and > 5 thousands employees. Not counting the ER and daily scheduled examinations. And it's not the biggest one.

jaclaz 4y ago
>That's per week here, probably more than that. Good, so in a week, or 10,000 thermometers uses, how many broke, on average? 1, 10 or 100? And we are talking only of those that you prompted to imagine the danger of: >Imagine the danger of a glass tube filled with mercury breaking while measuring the temperature anally or from the mouth.