INFECTION CONTROL
required length of time or delivering life-saving care – and it is obvious which decision they are likely to make.
Frequent hand washing and sanitising also has a tendency to aggravate the skin, an ongoing problem for healthcare workers. A December 2019 Royal College of Nursing survey revealed that 93% of nurses had suffered skin conditions on their hands or wrists during the previous year. And more than half the people questioned claimed to have experienced redness, itching, dryness or cracking of the skin with 46% describing the condition of their hands as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.
Some healthcare workers complain that the products required to carry out hand hygiene are not always available when they need them, either because the dispensers are hard to locate or because the soap and paper products inside have run out.
But in the midst of a global pandemic it is more important than ever that good habits are adhered to. Whether or not staff have sore hands, are exhausted or are rushed off their feet, they still need to be motivated to wash or sanitise their hands thoroughly and frequently – and be given the wherewithal to do so.
Evidently, hand hygiene is likely to be improved with the aid of the right equipment combined with the right messages delivered in an engaging way.
Hospitals should provide a continuous supply of mild soaps and soft hand towels that will not cause soreness or chapping to the skin. A moisturising lotion
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will help protect the hands after washing, and hand sanitisers in a convenient format should be made available to supplement good hand hygiene practices.
All staff training should be designed to inform, educate and inspire. For example, we at Essity have recently broadened the scope of our hand hygiene training module and made Tork VR Clean Hands Training – previously only available with a virtual reality headset – accessible free of charge online via any electronic device.
The training invites users into a digital world where they are confronted with a series of scenarios where hand hygiene needs to be carried out. Developed in collaboration with behavioural scientists and hand hygiene experts, the course aims to provide hand hygiene guidance in an engaging way.
Healthcare workers are only human, and there will be many occasions when the pressures of work, the condition of their skin, the unavailability of products or simple forgetfulness will result in a lapse in hand hygiene compliance. It is therefore vital that the message is constantly reinforced with training and that user-friendly hand hygiene products and systems are always made available to them.
Essity offers a range of products for the healthcare sector including Tork Extra Mild Foam Soap, Tork Xpress Extra Soft Multifold Hand Towels and Tork Alcohol Gel Hand Sanitiser.
www.tork.co.uk/cleancarehealthcare 35
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