The opposite of why we blog...

To be honest, sometimes when I read great posts like Dan's today on public reporting or Mike's on MRSA mandates, I get a little sad.  How can we possibly turn the tide against such well intentioned but misguided efforts. Just because at first pass something makes sense, doesn't actually support the contention that it actually makes sense, if that makes sense.  It should really come down to the science.

Initially, I wanted to comment, but then decided it might be better to just sit back and enjoy the show.  This feeling usually doesn't last too long. but it is nice to take a break, occasionally.  So for today and for the next few days, I'm going to enjoy imagining a world where we swab everyone, everywhere for every possible organism - linezolid-resistant S. aureus - check; ampicillin-resistant E. coli - check, etc etc and where we publicly report everything to everyone even if we don't validate what we are reporting.  This seems to be where we are going with infection prevention in the US, so I might as well get to the future now.  I'll let you know what it's like when I get there.  Wish me luck.


Source: http://xkcd.com/164/