The infection control team at HMC has successfully completed a week-long campaign to promote hand hygiene compliance in the corporation.
The campaign, which was sponsored by HMC Medical, Academic and Research Affairs chief Prof Michael Richmond, represented part of the organisation’s continuous efforts to instill a culture of safety in every facet of ongoing patient care.
Prof Richmond advised that, in order to provide higher quality care to patients and consistently improve safety standards, they need the commitment of senior management and a mind shift among staff to take responsibility.
“Good hand hygiene should be a matter of routine, but is still often forgotten by many staff immediately before touching a patient,” he said while explaining that “infection control is everyone’s responsibility. Patients and their family members can help by asking health workers who are about to touch them to clean their hands first and thanking them when they do.”
Prof Richmond added that good hand hygiene practices for healthcare professionals, as well as patients and their families, are an important means to control infection.
The World Healthcare Organisation (WHO) has reported that, every year, hundreds of millions of patients around the world are affected by healthcare-associated infections, which usually occur when caregivers’ hands transfer germs while touching patients.
These infections can lead to significant physical and psychological suffering and can even result in the death of
patients.
Studies have shown that if caregivers properly cleaned their hands at key moments while providing patient care, more than half of the infections could be prevented.
According to the WHO, the most common infections are urinary tract and surgical site infections, pneumonia and infections of the bloodstream.
Practising good hand hygiene, by using alcohol-based hand rubs, or washing hands with soap and water if visibly dirty, significantly reduces the risk of these infections.
“We adopted the WHO global campaign of ‘Save Lives: Clean Your Hands’. We were delighted to get such a positive response from staff keen to engage in various educational and promotional activities across HMC during hand hygiene promotion week,” said Dr Jameela al-Ajmi, assistant executive director, infection prevention and control programme.
The official explained that infection control is vitally important in ensuring safer and more effective care for patients, but it is also important for the safety of staff, who are often exposed to infectious elements as part of their vital work.
The WHO defined five key moments when working with patients where hand hygiene should be performed: Before touching a patient; before cleaning and aseptic procedures (such as inserting devices such as catheters); after contact with bodily fluids; after touching a patient, and; after touching patient surroundings.
“Our senior management is committed to establishing improved safety protocols within the organisation which will contribute to better patient care and treatment outcomes,” HMC risk management assistant executive director Dr Moza al-Ishaq said, adding: “They have endorsed a number of activities designed to instil a safety culture across HMC where staff are not just encouraged to learn about safety measures and standards, but take action to ensure the safety of patients and their carer.”
As part of the routine efforts to promote infection control within HMC, trained teams are engaged in monitoring hand hygiene practices in all hospitals and provide regular feedback to health workers.