Practising appropriate hand hygiene has always been paramount in eliminating the risk of transmission of infections. In the wake of the pandemic, the importance of mandating effective hand hygiene has accelerated and has become one of the most key elements of infection control.
Healthcare-associated infections, the complexity of treatment, increasing severity of illness are all contributing factors in healthcare professionals encouraging basic measures such as hand hygiene.
Scientific evidence supports that hand hygiene acts as an effective preventative measure which if implemented appropriately can significantly reduce the risk of cross-transmission of infection in healthcare facilities.
Globally, the pandemic has presented challenges across healthcare with a demand for solutions from patients and regulatory bodies. Implementing preventative measures has been successful, and the medical community has been driving innovation through advances in the study of infectious disease pathogenesis, as well as the global expansion of multi-drug resistance pathogens in healthcare settings.
These factors, combined with the scarcity of novel antimicrobials, have required a re-examination of the significance of basic infection prevention strategies in modern health care. There is now irrefutable evidence that practising stringent hand cleanliness minimises the likelihood of infection transmission.
With “Clean Care is Safer Care” at the forefront of the World Health Organization's worldwide focus on patient safety programs, nations across the world can adopt the regulations necessary to implement fundamental infection control practices in healthcare settings.
Learn more on how you can properly sanistise your hands by watching this demonstration by Massachusetts General Hospital: