INFECTION PREVENTION
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stock.adobe.com Giving a Hand to Best Hygiene Practices
Protocol awareness and product access remain key factors for accountability by Brenda Silva
A
s an essential part of any infection prevention (IP) program in hospitals or healthcare facilities, hygiene pro- tocols and practices are integral to patient and healthcare worker safety. On the most basic level, hygiene practices that begin with the hands are one of the easiest ways to ensure established protocols are met and required compliance is achieved. The pos- itive impact of hand-hygiene practices cannot be emphasized enough, as health- care industry statistics continue to evidence the important role hand hygiene plays in preventing hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). As such, it’s important to remem- ber that the best hygiene practices also include the best products, education, and access, all of which contribute to account- ability for staff and facilities alike. When it comes to ensur- ing established hygiene protocols are met, health- care professionals tend to agree that the best first step is education of both protocols and products. According to senior clin- ical manager at GOJO, Megan DiGiorgio, MSN, RN, CIC, FAPIC, the best hygiene practices require more than a single-tiered approach. “Building hand-hygiene compliance takes a multimodal approach. The World Health Organization (WHO) details ele- ments of the approach, including system change (ensuring alcohol-based hand rub and soap and water are readily accessi- ble), training and education, observation
Megan DiGiorgio
and feedback, reminders, and building a safety culture.”
She continued, “Choosing quality hand- hygiene products that can support high levels of compliance in healthcare facilities and making these products accessible and visible to healthcare workers is likely the most critical element of a hand- hygiene program.” Jaimee Rosenthal, direc-
tor of U.S. Healthcare Markets at GOJO, added, “An important part of any hospital infection preven- tion program is healthcare worker hand hygiene. As facilities on-board new staff and get back to basics with everyone, refocusing
WHO put out minimal compliance guide- lines as ‘best practice.’ We have to be better than that and be ‘evidenced based.’”
Hygiene-healthy environments Looking to hygiene practices in healthcare environments, Linda Lee, MBA, CIC, chief medical affairs & science officer at UV Angel, said, “Good hygiene is not just cleaning the room, it’s not just what we’ve typically thought about in environ- mental services, but it’s multimodal. It involves many things, and the air is
Linda Lee Jaimee Rosenthal
on the importance of good hand hygiene (covering when to use, how much, and technique) is an easy way to kick-start your safety and quality focus.” In agreement is Robert
Lee, founder/CEO/senior biologist at MD-Medical Data, Quality & Safety Advisors, who pointed out, “In order to ensure that you not only meet but exceed established hygiene protocols, you have to first understand what those protocols and prac- tices are. Not all hospitals or healthcare facilities are created equal with respect to protocols and practices. Most nursing and medical schools also teach very little hygiene compliance. Both the CDC and
Robert Lee 22 October 2023 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS •
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often overlooked as a pathway of transmis- sion. We should treat the air with the same diligence that we treat surfaces. By focusing on the air and how it interacts with these environments, and how can we provide a safer environment by treating the air.” According to Lee, the air within a health-
care environment is often overlooked, which can lead to accountability issues and airborne transmission of disease if not properly addressed.
“I believe that one of the things that healthcare workers can ask in particular is ‘what are we doing for the air?’ Many infec- tion preventionists, which I am, often focus on hands and whether we’ve wiped down surfaces, but we have lots of evidence that airborne transmission occurs. Yet, many healthcare workers don’t necessarily know what is being done for the air in the patient room, in their break rooms, in the areas where they congregate. Where staff often
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