WTF of the Day. . .

So I'm on my way home from work in the dark of night because of the stupid time change and I'm listening to NPR. This is news:

A local hospital is installing "hygiene spies." That is, they will have appointed folks that will observe to see if hospital staff are washing their hands at appropriate times.

OhcheesenriceisoursocietyintroubleorWHAT?!

That's right. The "hygiene police" will be patrolling hospitals making sure employees are washing their hands. The report indicated that the non-compliant employees, when caught would be strongly admonished to follow the hand washing rules.

This is disturbing on so many levels:

1. Isn't continual hand washing nearly a prerequisite in a hospital setting?
2. Why in the eff wouldn't you want to wash your hands continually if you were dealing with sick people as a personal precaution?
3. If you are a hospital why on earth do you think it's necessary to enact such a stealth program to monitor employees? Can we safely assume it's because you suspect a problem?
4. If you are a hospital and you suspect you have this problem why do you think spying will help? Why don't you effing hunt these folks down, educate them, and then FIRE them for non-compliance?
5. Is this some kind of a gimmick to convince the public this particular hospital is cleanlier than the rest? Hence attracting more business during a time of H1N1 panic?
6. Don't even get me started on why NPR felt this was news-worthy.

WTF, people, WTF?