Here at AHS we work closely with the Healthcare industry from care homes to private and NHS hospitals and that is why we are supporting the World Health Organisation’s campaign, SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands.
Washing your hands is the simplest way to prevent and control infections, which is incredibly important in the healthcare industry. However it is the lack of compliance among healthcare providers which causes problems worldwide. Just recently, shocking statistics were released that revealed a large majority of healthcare workers in outpatient care, did not wash their hands efficiently and in some cases, not at all.
This campaign is working to improve hand hygiene globally, in surgical wards to operating theatres to outpatient surgical services to reduce HCAI (Health Care Associated Illness) and the burden on health systems.
Hospital patients are more at risk of developing infections, especially if they have scars or wounds. Each time a healthcare worker touches a patient, microorganisms are transferred. These little micro-organisms have strong standing power as they can survive on hands for anything between 2 minutes to an hour. In the absence of hand hygiene action there is a greater degree of hand contamination.
The possible implications of not washing your hands are huge – infections lead to more serious illnesses, prolonged hospital stays, financial costs and in the worst case, tragic loss. The good news is most health-care associated infections are preventable through hand hygiene – cleaning hands at the right time and in the right way.
You can visit World Health Organisation’s website to find out lots more about hand hygiene and we have a few articles about handwashing too.
Click here to read more about how AHS can help Hand Hygiene in any workplace.
