Why is hand hygiene a priority in hospitals?

Our hands play an important role in our lives, from helping us cook family-favourite meals to holding the hands of those we love; our hands are connected to our everyday lives. It’s only fair to return the love by ensuring we keep them clean and hygienic. It’s easy to forget sometimes just how busy our hands are and what they touch during the day.

Proper hand hygiene is not only a priority at home, but in hospitals too. It helps stop the spread of germs and cross-contamination. As an institution that serves the sick from all walks of life, healthcare workers are required to take hand hygiene seriously to protect their patients, themselves, their families and those around them. Hand hygiene in healthcare is the single, most important element in reducing the risk of spreading illness from one person to another.

Hand hygiene is washing your hands with a bar of soap and water or sanitizing with a hand sanitizer for a quicker, on-the-go clean to prevent spreading germs. Ideally, you should wash your hands for a minimum of 20 seconds with soapy water, then rinse with water afterwards. Sanitising your hands with a hand sanitizer is perfectly okay, but should not replace washing your hands. It is an excellent backup solution for when you don’t have immediate access to a bathroom.

Healthcare workers have an important role to play in hospital hygiene. With all of the diseases and infections out there, hand hygiene has never been more important. Nurses and midwives should be practicing hand hygiene at critical key moments of a consultation, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) describes as the five most important moments of hand hygiene in the healthcare environment.
 

According to the WHO, roughly 70% of healthcare workers do not adhere to the recommended hygiene practices in hospitals. This can be concerning for a number of reasons as poor hygiene practices are one of the leading causes of infants dying each year. Healthcare workers work busy shifts, but should always make time to wash their hands as often as possible.

Hand sanitizers are an effective method to remove germs, especially in an emergency or when you are not near running water. The Lifebuoy Instant Sanitizer Spray protects you against 99.99% of germs when hand washing is not easily accessible. It also has an alcohol content of 70%, making it fast and effective wherever you are.

Healthcare workers are recommended to follow the WHO approach called ‘My five moments for hand hygiene’. It was created to encourage all healthcare workers to clean their hands frequently at key moments in their shift. These crucial moments act as a reminder of the importance of preventing infections and diseases through good hand hygiene.
 

To improve the quality of hospital hygiene, all healthcare workers are encouraged to clean or sanitise their hands at these key times:

The importance of this first practice is to ensure that germs on the nurses or midwives’ hands are not transmitted to the patient.

The next important moment is before any and all health or medical procedures. The risk of cross-contamination is high at this point and increases the risk of infection.

Healthcare workers can be exposed to bodily fluids or even blood and need to thoroughly wash their hands after each interaction.
 

Germs are microscopic and live on surfaces, clothing and accessories. Nurses and midwives should wash their hands after touching a patient. This ensures that when they deal with another patient, that they do not spread any germs.

Lastly, healthcare workers should wash their hands after cleaning up a patient’s surroundings. This involves their seat, any disposable tissue or film.

We understand just how important it is to wash our hands and maintain good personal hygiene. Whether it’s soap or water or hand sanitizers, regular and consistent hand cleaning is vital. Lifebuoy is committed to offering a carefully formulated and tested range of products to promote and maintain health at home and at work.