After Touching Patient Surroundings 6

Clean your hands after touching any object or furniture in the patient’s immediate
surroundings, when leaving the patient zone, even if the patient has not been
touched.

Why?
This indication is justified by the risk of germ
transmission to the health care worker and of the
dissemination into health care environment.
Gloves DO NOT take the place of Hand
Hygiene
Glove use neither alters nor
replaces the performance of
hand hygiene.

Gloves should be removed and

hand hygiene performed when
indicated by the 5 moments of
hand hygiene and clean gloves
put back on.
Hand Hygiene in Prevention of HAI’s

• Hand hygiene is the undisputed single

most effective infection control
measure in prevention of HAI’s
• If hand hygiene is done properly this
can be over 90% effective in preventing
the spread of harmful germs and HAIs
Increased Compliance with Hand Hygiene means …
• Reduced numbers of patients acquiring HAI’s
• Decreased waste of resources
• Saving lives
Hands and Germ Transmission:
A health-care workers hands when not clean are the main
route of cross-transmission of potentially harmful germs
between patients in a health care facility.8
Isolation Caddy Audits
Evaluation

• Evaluate effectiveness of hand hygiene and isolation

procedures
• Direct observation of unit staff
• Analyze Data- Hand Hygiene Compliance
Resources
1. Infection prevention and control. (2019, February 08). Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://www.who.int/infection-prevention/en/
2.The Importance of Hand Hygiene in Healthcare Settings. (2015, January 15). Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://www.newcrosshealthcare.com/importance-hand-hygiene-healthcare-settings
3. Davis, R. The Doctor Who Championed Hand-Washing And Briefly Saved Lives. (2015, January 12). Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://www.npr.org/sections/health-
shots/2015/01/12/375663920/the-doctor-who-championed-hand-washing-and-saved-women-s-lives
4. The Global Handwashing Partnership. (n.d.). Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://globalhandwashing.org/about-handwashing/history-of-handwashing/
5. Vitalacy Blog. (2018, October 31). Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://www.vitalacy.com/blog/how-did-handwashing-in-healthcare-become-so-important
6. My 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene. (2017, April 21). Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://www.who.int/infection-prevention/campaigns/clean-hands/5moments/en
7. The critical role of infection prevention and control. (2016). Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/246235/WHO-HIS-SDS-2016.10-
eng.pdf;jsessionid=3508246B2C40EC8FD64AA6558797C103?sequence=1
8. Transmission of pathogens by hands. (1970, January 01). Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK144014/
9. Landelle, C., Pagani, L., & Harbarth, S. (2013, February 15). Is patient isolation the single most important measure to prevent the spread of multidrug-resistant pathogens? Retrieved April 01,
2019, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3654617/