Blog, General news, Medical and healthcare
World Hand Hygiene Day gathers momentum
May
“It might be gloves. It’s always hand hygiene”
World Hand Hygiene Day (WHHD) as ever, takes place on 5th of May. This year’s theme is “It might be gloves. It’s always hand hygiene”.
According to the WHO Eastern Mediterranean website it “highlights the importance of clean hands and appropriate glove use in the health care workflow”.
The annual hand hygiene awareness initiative focuses on the infection prevention and control (IPC) minimum requirement for all hospitals, healthcare and other medical facilities across the globe. Without such efforts says the World Health Organization, (WHO) there is a real risk of the “unintentionally spreading diseases”.
“Held each year on 5 May, WHHD promotes hand hygiene as a simple yet powerful intervention that can protect patients, health care workers and visitors from the harm caused by preventable health care-associated infections (HAIs).”
The worldwide action plan and framework for monitoring aims to set “hand hygiene compliance as a key national indicator” to be embedded in reference hospitals by the end of next year. 68% of countries currently report implementation says the campaign website – a figure which it indicates needs further improvement.
Why soap and water washing is better than using gels
The Public Health Agency (PHA) in Northern Ireland has also marked WHHD. In their article World Hand Hygiene – wash your hands when on days out with the family is particularly emphasising the importance of regular, effective hand washing when families are out and about for the day. The Infection Prevention and Control Lead Nurse at the PHA, Caroline McGeary, was in no doubt about the crucial role that this plays in keeping people safe when enjoying the considerable benefits, for example, of a farm visit.
“Wash hands thoroughly using soap and water and dry thoroughly with paper towels after handling animals or touching surfaces at the farm.”
The article also warned that gels are not an effective alternative for soap and water.
“Antibacterial hand gels and wipes are not a substitute for washing hands, as gels and wipes may not adequately remove germs and bugs in the way that soap and running water can.”
Hand washing at the point of need in all medical facilities
Teal’s range of mobile handwash stations for medical facilities are available to purchase and are essential during norovirus or C. difficile outbreaks – or when scheduled maintenance work takes other hand washing facilities out of use temporarily.
The NHS advises“Use liquid soap and warm water to wash all surfaces of the hands, rinse under running water and dry thoroughly. Alcohol hand gel is not effective against norovirus.”
Mobile hand wash stations can also be hired »
There are vehicle mounted, wall mounted, mains powered and free standing hand wash stations as well as mobile sinks for use with pre-heated hot water.
The Teal range of mobile sinks includes the MediWash, Hygienius and Hygienius ProWash, BigSynk, Super Stallette, TEALwash, Handeman Xtra, Compact Classic, HandSpa, CliniWash the Compact Welfare and the WashStand Xtra.