INFECTION CONTROL
between 40 and 60 seconds and then thoroughly dried to ensure a complete clean. If the hands are not visibly soiled, an alcohol gel may be used instead for a period of 20-30 seconds.
However, according to a recent WHO Clean Hands campaign, around 70% of healthcare workers globally fail to practise proper hand hygiene on a regular basis.
A National Library of Medicine paper published in the US in 2022 looked at the potential barriers to hand hygiene in intensive care units.
When researchers questioned staff members it emerged that issues such as heavy workloads, a lack of hand hygiene facilities, poor quality equipment and inadequate training were all preventing them from washing their hands.
Some respondents complained that they were unable to dry their hands due to a lack of facilities, while others said they lacked access to skin moisturisers after hand washing.
Busy doctors and nurses will struggle to find the necessary time to carry out the thorough and lengthy hand-washes that WHO advocates. Frequent hand washing and sanitising has a tendency to aggravate the skin, and this can be an ongoing problem for healthcare workers.
A Royal College of Nursing survey revealed that 93% of nurses suffered skin conditions on their hands or wrists while more than half the people questioned had experienced redness, itching, dryness or cracking of the skin.
Some healthcare workers complain that the products and systems they need to carry out hand hygiene are not always there when they need them. Sometimes the dispensers are hard to access or locate, or products are simply unavailable because the soap and paper has run out.
Protocols therefore need to be put in place to ensure that staff members have access to a constant supply of skin-friendly products.
Mild soaps and soft hand towels will make hand washing and drying a much more pleasant experience for people who need to carry out frequent hand hygiene. For example, Tork Sensitive Soap is allergy- friendly and certified by ECARF, the European Centre for Allergy Research Foundation, while Tork Xpress Extra Soft Multifold Hand Towels are soft, absorbent and gentle on the skin.
The provision of a fragrance-free conditioning cream such as Tork Sensitive Moisturising Hand Cream will further help to prevent chapping and soreness when used after hand washing.
Besides being skin-friendly, all hand hygiene products should be easy to use to facilitate the process for harassed healthcare workers. The Tork Foam Soap dispenser has been designed to be particularly easy to use even for people with low hand strength, and the serves up to 1,650 users with foam soap which ensures that it will not run out when a hand-wash is urgently needed.
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Technology can also help to prevent run-outs of paper and soap in a healthcare setting. For example, Tork Vision Cleaning uses sensors to keep a constant check on refill requirements. Data on dispenser levels is uploaded to the internet where cleaners can access it via a smartphone or tablet. They can then ensure that all dispensers are constantly kept topped up.
Staff should also be taught about the importance of hand washing – and the optimum way of doing it. Essity’s Tork Clean Hands Training module 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 training aims to provide hand hygiene guidance in an engaging way.
Trainees take on the role of a nurse or doctor in a hospital unit where they are tasked with caring for several patients. Their results are then assessed on how far they comply with the World Health Organization’s My 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene.
“AROUND 70% OF HEALTHCARE WORKERS GLOBALLY FAIL TO PRACTISE PROPER HAND HYGIENE ON A REGULAR BASIS.”
Cleaners should also be taught how to sanitise all patient areas in the most logical and hygienic way possible. They should understand the order in which surfaces should be cleaned plus the importance of using different cloths for each task to avoid cross- contamination. And all training should be easy to understand, intuitive and take into account the fact that English may not be their first language.
Essity offers an interactive training and support package aimed at healthcare cleaners and facility managers. Tork Interactive Clean Hospital Training takes staff through various real-world cleaning scenarios in an engaging way.
The training takes place in a virtual hospital and incorporates modules on daily cleaning in occupied patient rooms plus discharge cleaning protocols. Each module is focused on learning by doing and is available in more than 15 languages besides English. An accompanying ‘train-the-trainer’ module instructs facility and contract cleaning managers on how to support their teams and demonstrate optimum cleaning techniques.
Cleaning and hygiene are vital in hospitals, but staff need to have the understanding, the opportunity and the will to carry out protocols properly. And this can be greatly aided via a combination of bespoke training, user-friendly products and time-saving systems.
www.tork.co.uk/cleancarehealthcare www.tork.co.uk
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