Background
Hand hygiene is the single most important factor in the prevention and control of infection and is fundamental in protecting both the patient and the healthcare worker. Hands can become contaminated by direct contact with patients, indirectly by handling equipment or through contact with the general environment. The risks to the patient and the Health Care Worker are greatly reduced if staff appropriately decontaminate their hands.
One of the major causes of cross-infection within a medical setting is dirty hands, therefore hand hygiene is the single most important factor in the prevention and control of infection and is fundamental in protecting both the patient and medical staff. The most important infection control procedure is washing the hands and effective hand washing has helped to eliminate the risk of cross contamination.
Today hand hygiene is no longer simply good practice or a healthy habit; it has become an essential method of protecting ourselves and our customers. Compliance with recommended hand washing standards and guidelines is today considered by many infection control professionals to be a cornerstone in addressing the challenge of infection control.
The cleanyourhands® campaign was introduced by the NHS and aims to improve the hand hygiene of healthcare staff at the point of patient/service user care.
“Following a study we observed that if personnel pick the gloves up only by the CUFF END and don the glove prior to patient contact, the organism transfer rate is eliminated or very drastically reduced. While we do not advocate using gloves as a substitute for hand washing, CUFF END removal introduces a secondary control mechanism to reduce infections when personnel bypass other proper infection control procedures. When proper hand/forearm washing is combined with cuff end removal of gloves this is a very effective control measure that literally can prevent organism transfer and subsequent infections.”
Matthew P Maley, MS Shriners Burn Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio
Hand hygiene is the single most important factor in the prevention and control of infection and is fundamental in protecting both the patient and the healthcare worker. Hands can become contaminated by direct contact with patients, indirectly by handling equipment or through contact with the general environment. The risks to the patient and the Health Care Worker are greatly reduced if staff appropriately decontaminate their hands.
One of the major causes of cross-infection within a medical setting is dirty hands, therefore hand hygiene is the single most important factor in the prevention and control of infection and is fundamental in protecting both the patient and medical staff. The most important infection control procedure is washing the hands and effective hand washing has helped to eliminate the risk of cross contamination.
Today hand hygiene is no longer simply good practice or a healthy habit; it has become an essential method of protecting ourselves and our customers. Compliance with recommended hand washing standards and guidelines is today considered by many infection control professionals to be a cornerstone in addressing the challenge of infection control.
The cleanyourhands® campaign was introduced by the NHS and aims to improve the hand hygiene of healthcare staff at the point of patient/service user care.
“Following a study we observed that if personnel pick the gloves up only by the CUFF END and don the glove prior to patient contact, the organism transfer rate is eliminated or very drastically reduced. While we do not advocate using gloves as a substitute for hand washing, CUFF END removal introduces a secondary control mechanism to reduce infections when personnel bypass other proper infection control procedures. When proper hand/forearm washing is combined with cuff end removal of gloves this is a very effective control measure that literally can prevent organism transfer and subsequent infections.”
Matthew P Maley, MS Shriners Burn Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio
