HOSPITAL & HEALTHCARE FACILITIES A HANDY HELPER
Hospital staff are fighting a constant battle to reduce the risk of healthcare- acquired infections. Essity looks at various ways of minimising this risk – including the simple act of hand-washing.
Healthcare facilities are meant to heal us, not make us unwell. But around one in 10 patients worldwide fall victim to a new bug after being admitted to hospital.
According to the World Health Organisation around 7% of acute care patients in developed countries acquire at least one healthcare- acquired infection during their hospital stay. This figure rises to 15% in some parts of the developing world.
MRSA and C. difficile are among the best- known of Healthcare Associated Infections (HCAIs) but infections of the urine, chest, blood and wound are also common. Such infections prolong hospital stays, add to healthcare costs and cause unnecessary deaths. They pose a serious risk to patients, staff and visitors and can lead to sepsis – where the immune system overreacts to an infection causing the body to attack its own tissues and organs.
“Around 7% of acute care patients in developed
countries acquire at least one healthcare-acquired infection during their hospital stay.”
Unless treated promptly, sepsis can lead to multiple organ failure. So it is not surprising that infection prevention and control are high on the list of priorities for the NHS. Meanwhile, scientists are working on ingenious new ways of attempting to beat the healthcare bugs.
For example, Australian researchers have developed an artificial enzyme – a NanoZyme - that can create an oxygen species using visible light. This is said to be able to rapidly break down and kill bacteria. Operating out of RMIT University in Melbourne, the research team believes the development could one day be used to fight infections and keep hospitals free of bacteria such as
E.coli and Golden Staph.
At New York’s Columbia University, a study has revealed that ultraviolet light in some forms can kill ‘flu germs without causing serious conditions such as skin cancer or cataracts’.
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Researchers from New York’s Columbia University believe that this could be a viable solution for treating ‘flu, and that overhead far-UVC light installed in hospitals and other high-risk areas could provide a powerful check on seasonal influenza epidemics.
And a sophisticated new technology aimed at teaching robots how to grasp objects could also be used to measure heat signatures left behind on objects as a result of human touch, claim the developers. When installed in the form of cameras on hospital ceilings, Grasp Sense technology would expose the most frequently- touched surfaces in hospital wards and make it easier for staff to keep them clean.
Great strides are therefore being made to tackle healthcare-acquired infections. But when coming up with such elaborate new technologies, are we overlooking the elephant in the room: namely, the need for higher standards of hand hygiene?
According to the World Health Organisation, improved hand hygiene practices could reduce pathogen transmission in healthcare by 50%. WHO’s own protocol - the Five Moments of Hygiene – was introduced in 2009 to reduce the burden of healthcare-associated infections. This states that staff should wash their hands before touching a patient, before carrying out any aseptic procedure, after any exposure to body fluid, after touching a patient and after touching the patient’s surroundings.
However, an average of 61% of healthcare workers fail to adhere to these practices according to WHO. Various studies have pinpointed the reasons: some staff members claim to be “too busy to wash” while others appear to be unware of the crucial role played by hand hygiene in preventing the spread of infections.
A shortage of soap and hand towels is another commonly-cited reason for poor hand hygiene compliance. And others complain that frequent hand washing irritates their hands and dries out their skin. But with factors such as HCAIs, sepsis and even death at stake, these arguments need to be overcome.
User-friendly soaps and hand towels supplied in easy-to-use dispensers will help speed up hand hygiene for people who claim to be “too
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