Today, May 5th, is Hand Hygiene Day, a day that reminds healthcare workers, visitors, and policy makers alike, that frequent handwashing can be used to fight the growing threat of antibiotic resistance, and ultimately, save millions of lives.
One of the strongest ways to prevent the spread of infections is by making sure that your hands are clean. Each year, on May 5th, we recognized on a global scale Hand Hygiene Day, a day that underscores just how important frequent handwashing can be, especially as the threat of antibiotic resistance continues to grow. The theme for this year? “Fight Antibiotic Resistance—It’s in Your Hands.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) stresses the importance of this day, because it plays a role in promoting good infection prevention and control practices in order to
Although advancements are constantly being made in infection prevention, WHO reports that 1 in 10 patients will get a healthcare-associated infection (HAI) while receiving care.
“Healthcare-associated infections are one of the most frequent adverse events in healthcare delivery, and are a major public health problem that affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide,” Mahmoud Fikri, PhD, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean region said in a
About 32% of patients who have undergone surgery and are receiving care get post-operative infections; about half of those patients (51%) “are resistant to treatment with antibiotics.” Due to this, WHO’s campaign for Hand Hygiene Day this year focuses on fighting antibiotic resistance.
WHO calls on
WHO reports that about 70% of healthcare workers and 50% of surgical teams do not routinely practice hand hygiene, which underscores a substantial opportunity for improvement, especially since hand hygiene can not only reduce the risk of HAIs, but could potentially “save 8 million lives every year in hospitals alone.”
At the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) Spring 2017 Conference, co-chair of the Scientific Spring Program at the SHEA Spring Meeting, Matthew Linam, MD, MS, associate professor, Department of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas, and medical director of Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control at Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH),
So, what are the central moments when healthcare workers should remember to clean their hands? If taking the “
In honor of World Hand Hygiene Day, the CDC is also promoting a campaign called “
Hand hygiene is one of the more critical practices where patients are starting to become more active. For example, one form of engagement could be to monitor hand hygiene practices among healthcare workers in the facilities where they are receiving care.
In fact, at the SHEA Spring 2017 Conference, Heather Schact Reisinger, PhD, MAA, medical anthropologist, associate director for Research and Core Investigation for the Center for Comprehensive Access and Delivery Research and Evaluation (CADRE) at the US Department of Veteran Affairs,
“As far as effectiveness, engaged patients report higher quality and fewer errors, have reduced healthcare utilization and costs, and have a positive impact on health outcomes, [such as] increased medication adherence, reduced rates of hospital admissions and reduced lengths of stay, [and] increased preventative care,” she said.
Practicing hand hygiene frequently and correctly is a simple yet effective way to make a difference in infection prevention and transmission. After all, like WHO says, “Clean hands make the health system a safer place to receive care.”
