In hospitals and other health care settings, hand hygiene can
prevent infections from spreading from one patient to another, as
well as from patient to health care worker.
Over 150 years ago, physician Ignaz Semmelweis determined that health care workers in a Viennese teaching hospital transmitted hospital-acquired diseases. The odor coming from the hands of doctors and students disturbed Semmelweis. He observed that they were not adequately washing their hands after performing autopsies and before their rounds on the delivery suite. “Cadaverous particles” were transferred from doctors and students to mothers, causing puerperal fever.
Cleaning Building Services New York, Inc. has created a resource
page with information not only for parents, teachers and
caregivers, but also information specifically targeting kids and
their education of hand hygiene.
CHPSO would like to thank Tony, a student in Seattle, for
bringing this insightful resource to our attention.
The Handwashingforlife® Institute is a global organization and an
international leader in identifying and advocating end-to-end
best practices in hand hygiene. The company provides independent,
objective and unbiased advice; in a practical, affordable and
sustainable manner.
Henry the Hand Foundation is a “grass roots” non-profit
organization stretching our resources to share Henry’s Hand
Awareness message with children and adults across the globe.
Henry is asking if you can “give us a hand”. We encourage
parents and health professionals to “Adopt a School” (daycare,
Head Start program, pre-school or school) in their community to
act as ambassadors for Henry’s packaged program which allows them
to take a leadership role in teaching health education.
This article examines the effectiveness of a Miami Children’s
Hospital electronic monitoring system which confirms that
providers engaged in proper hand hygiene before patient
contact.
Landers T, Abusalem S, Coty MB, et alAm J Infect Control, 2012; 40(4 Suppl 1): S11-7
This article reviews the effectiveness of including patients in
hand hygiene initiatives and provides guidelines for the
implementation of these initiatives.
This report reviews studies that have been published since the
1985 CDC and 1995 APIC hand hygiene guidelines were published.
This report reviews hand hygiene practices, adherence of
healthcare workers to these practices, and barriers to proper
adherence.
The Hand Hygiene Resource Center is a project of the Saint
Raphael Healthcare System and John M. Boyce, M.D. The Center’s
mission is to advance the quality of patient care and reduce
infection by improving hand hygiene practices in healthcare
settings.
The World Health Organization (WHO) now has an extensive library
of materials to support your efforts to improve hand hygiene,
including tools for system change, training and education,
evaluation and feedback, workplace reminders, and institutional
safety climate.
The Centers for Disease Control developed a patient admission
video and posters for free use. The patient admission video
is available in English and Spanish. Modeled after the video that
airline passengers are required to view prior to flight take-off,
this video is intended to be shown to patients upon admission to
the hospital.
Hospitals and medical centers are taking things “into their own
hands” and coming up with novel, effective ways to encourage hand
hygiene. Here are just a few examples.
