HEALTHCARE & HOSPITALS
“SINKS, SOAPS, HAND TOWELS AND SANITISING HAND FOAMS
SHOULD BE PLACED STRATEGICALLY
AROUND THE WARD.”
Some hospital trusts install sanitiser dispensers at the entrance to wards and provide leaflets and signs urging visitors to practice good hand hygiene. These prompts have a certain level of success if they are strategically placed: for example, one study at a South Carolina hospital showed that visitors were five times more likely to use a hand sanitiser dispenser if it were prominently located in the middle of the lobby rather than being tucked away to the side of the reception area.
Meanwhile, “hologram” nurses are employed in some UK hospital foyers to remind visitors about the importance of hand hygiene. These are reported to be fairly successful – perhaps because many of us are more receptive to instructions from a hologram than from a real member of
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staff. Holograms are currently being used in London, Bedford, Doncaster and Rotherham.
It is difficult to eliminate the risks that hospital visitors represent and sometimes drastic action needs to be taken. In autumn 2016, several UK hospital trusts took the unusual step of urging visitors to stay away following a severe outbreak of norovirus, the highly contagious “winter vomiting” disease. Anyone who had recently suffered from diarrhoea, vomiting or flu-like symptoms was urged to refrain from visiting loved-ones in a number of areas including Lincolnshire, Cumbria, Shropshire, Cornwall and the Isle of Wight.
Effective infection control is difficult to achieve since hospital patients and visitors cannot be forced to wash
their hands properly when on the ward. However since it is in their interests to do so in order to stay healthy, a combination of prompts and user-friendly facilities should encourage them to practise good hand hygiene.
Sinks, soaps, hand towels and sanitising hand foams should be placed strategically around the ward entrances and beds. There should also be prominent signage that act as a constant reminder to patients and visitors of the importance of washing their hands.
It may not be rocket science, but these few simple measures could be an important wake-up call to visitors and patients – and one that could help make real strides in reducing the spread of hospital-acquired infections.
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