Hospital goes viral to stop spreading bacteria (ironic, but effective).

Each week I look forward to the NYT column penned by the authors of Freakonomics. While a book about economics, the marketing principles are invaluable, as are the columns. This week's piece really struck a chord me since it hit home my position on how we marketers can learn some of the savviest lessons from the most unlikeliest of sources. I'll leverage the article's findings to better explain:

Our hospitals have a real problem on their hands. Literally. The problem is the spreading of bacteria, much of it due to the simple fact that doctors aren't washing their hands enough when caring for many patients. You see, too many people are dying from infections acquired from inside the hospital (not due to the illnesses that landed them there in the first place).

It's not that doctors are intentionally careless, it's that they're juggling a lot of patients and non-stop emergencies during the course of a marathon shift. The numbers are startling: according to the Institute of Medicine up to 98,000 Americans fall victim to medical errors each year--that's more deaths than from motor-vehicle crashes or breast cancer.

It's the equivalent of losing a commercial-size plane full of passengers. Every single day of the year.

Even Cedars-Sinai in L.A., decidedly one of the country's most prominent hospitals, was grappling with this issue. Their hand-hygiene scores were hovering at 65%. But regulations required they be at 90%.

The administration's first tactic was an awareness campaign distributed via e-mail, faxes and posters. While it increased awareness, it didn't change behavior. As we marketers know, awareness sans action is a BIG waste of budget and bandwidth.

Then the administration handed out bottles of Purell to doctors in the parking lot, arming them with a disinfectant that was always handy, even if a sink was not. They also leveraged an incentive-based strategy that spotlighted positive role models: the administration would catch doctors who were scrubbing up and reward them with a $10 Starbucks gift card. Oh how we love caffeinated incentives.

The strategy upped compliance rates to 80%...dramatically better...but still falling 10% short of compliance levels was discouraging to the hospital's leadership.

That's when Rekha Murthy, the hospital's epidemiologist, decided on a "show vs. tell" approach, letting the germs tell the tale. Murthy asked doctors to press their hands on a petri-dish sponge, then they cultured and scanned the findings.

See the illustration up top teeming with all that icky bacteria? Indeed a picture is worth 1,000 germs (admit it, it makes you wonder what's on your hands, mouse and keyboard, doesn't it?).The photograph was made into a screen saver and posted to every computer in the hospital.

The result? Compliance scores shot up to nearly 100%. And stayed there. According to the article: "Whatever reasons the doctors may have had for not complying in the past, they vanished in the face of such vivid evidence."

I've marketed projects in both biotech and healthcare. The breakthrough drug discoveries and state-of-the-art tech innovations these companies develop are mind blowing. So it gives me pause that it wasn't a cutting-edge application, but rather a basic use of technology--a simple screen saver, mind you--that is serving to save so many lives.

And back to my original premise, it wasn't a fancy ad agency that delivered the goods. Nope, it was a band of dedicated physicians and nurses (who just so happen to be great marketers, too).

Illustration: Paul Sahre and Loren Flaherty (from NYT)

Comments

[Mack Collier]

Great story from non-marketers! I think it's interesting how the $10 Starbucks GC worked, but the hand-scanning to show how many germs were present REALLY did the trick. We are visual creatures, and when you prove to the doctors that their hands are NOT as clean as they think they are, that gets their attention.

[Lewis Green]

Thank you for using the word "icky." It confirms my wife's use of the word as a legitimate scientific modifier. I can't wait to share this with her. What impresses me most about the hospital's marketing efforts is their willingness to test, measure and adjust. Sometimes we just need to keep trying things.

[CK]

Mack: Yep, non-marketers can sure teach we practitioners a thing or two. And yes, we are visual creatures...it's one thing to tell, it's a vastly different scenario to show (especially when it came to the colonies of germs. no denying THAT visual!).

Lewis:Yes, you're wife is right (aren't we women always?). Icky is not only a word, it depicts a vivid graphic for the mind. And yes, we must keep trying new things in order to meet our goals--saving lives being the most important goal so it's critical that we get creative in testing new strategies and tactics.

Thanks for your input guys.

[vaspers the grate aka Pluto the Planet]

I was just reading some web marketing book that said you can succeed by doing simple things well, you don't necessarily need a lot of expensive whizz bang hoopla.

Just take one simple idea, combine it with a simple but powerful technology, then woomfla: you got your Killer App. Like email, Blogger, Photo Shop, Skype, RSS, YouTube.

This is a really great story, the screensaver with graphic evidence, which doctors would find compelling and logical. Yet there is also a gut emotional reaction to the germs on the screensaver.

[vaspers the grate aka Pluto the Planet]

At the local public health facility they have photos from electron microscopes, proving that money is more germ ridden than toilets.

Wash your hands with hot water and Lava or Comet, after touching any cash. Paper (actually linen) money is especially filthy, even blood stained.

[CK]

Pluto: Have you seen the report that the toilet water in quick-serve restaurants actually has LESS bacteria than the ice cube water they use for their soft drinks?

Now that's icky! And just oh so wrong.

Believe it was a junior-high school student that did the test for her science class. I'll get you that.

[vaspers the grate aka Pluto the Planet]

This example of how an organization solved a tricky problem is the best marketing/influencing story I've heard all year.