HAND HYGIENE
Running head: HAND HYGIENE
Hand Hygiene
The hands are the most used body organ and are exposed to pathogens at a higher level than any other part of our body. For humans to maintain a state of good health, we have to reduce the transmission to these pathogens. One proven method to interrupt the transmission is by maintaining hand hygiene. Hand hygiene, is the simplest most effective measure for preventing nosocomial infection.
Evidence to support the importance of hand hygiene in infection prevention dates back to the early 1800’s with Ignaz Semmelweis. The significance of limiting the spread of infections has been emphasized from the days of Florence Nightingale. According to the WHO
(World Health Organization ) 'Clean Care is Safer Care ' program, when working with patients, hand hygiene should be performed at 5 key moments, preferably by using an alcohol-based rub or by hand washing with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty. The five moments for hand hygiene are:
* before touching a patient
* before clean and aseptic procedures (e.g. inserting devices such as catheters)
* after contact with body fluids
* after touching a patient
* after touching patient surroundings.
The use of alcohol-based hand rub products is a key factor to achieve improvement because they can be promptly used at the point of care when hand hygiene is needed to ensure patient safety and they have higher antimicrobial effect than soap and water.
Running head: HAND HYGIENE
"Although the development of new antibiotics is vital to provide new treatment options, strengthening hand hygiene and other infection control best practices has the potential to stop antimicrobial resistance. Preventing the transmission and spread of the germs, avoids infections and the related treatment constraints and patient suffering," says Dr. Edward Kelley, Director,
Service Delivery and Safety which hosts the Clean Care is Safer Care program.
For this year’s “SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands” campaign, the Call
Hand Hygiene
The hands are the most used body organ and are exposed to pathogens at a higher level than any other part of our body. For humans to maintain a state of good health, we have to reduce the transmission to these pathogens. One proven method to interrupt the transmission is by maintaining hand hygiene. Hand hygiene, is the simplest most effective measure for preventing nosocomial infection.
Evidence to support the importance of hand hygiene in infection prevention dates back to the early 1800’s with Ignaz Semmelweis. The significance of limiting the spread of infections has been emphasized from the days of Florence Nightingale. According to the WHO
(World Health Organization ) 'Clean Care is Safer Care ' program, when working with patients, hand hygiene should be performed at 5 key moments, preferably by using an alcohol-based rub or by hand washing with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty. The five moments for hand hygiene are:
* before touching a patient
* before clean and aseptic procedures (e.g. inserting devices such as catheters)
* after contact with body fluids
* after touching a patient
* after touching patient surroundings.
The use of alcohol-based hand rub products is a key factor to achieve improvement because they can be promptly used at the point of care when hand hygiene is needed to ensure patient safety and they have higher antimicrobial effect than soap and water.
Running head: HAND HYGIENE
"Although the development of new antibiotics is vital to provide new treatment options, strengthening hand hygiene and other infection control best practices has the potential to stop antimicrobial resistance. Preventing the transmission and spread of the germs, avoids infections and the related treatment constraints and patient suffering," says Dr. Edward Kelley, Director,
Service Delivery and Safety which hosts the Clean Care is Safer Care program.
For this year’s “SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands” campaign, the Call
References: Collins, R. (2013). Hand hygiene. The Journal of Perioperative Practice, 23(7), 1. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1428042004?accountid=39476 Malliarou, Maria, RN, BSc,M.Sc, PhD., Sarafis, Pavlos, RN, BSc,M.Sc, PhD., Zyga, Sofia, RN, BSc,M.Sc, PhD., & Constantinidis, Theodoros C,M.D., PhD. (2013). The importance of nurses hand hygiene. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 6(3), 327-331. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1445366586?accountid=39476 Running head: HAND HYGIENE Running head: HAND HYGIENE