Breaking down the barriers for cleaner care

Chris Wakefield, managing director UK and Ireland, GOJO Industries-Europe Ltd, reports.

Did you know that until the mid1800s doctors didn’t bother washing their hands? Since then the importance, and practice, of hand hygiene has made great strides. However, despite this, compliance can still be problematic in hospitals and healthcare facilities.

In fact, a study into infection prevention and control by The World Health Organisation (WHO), found the pandemic ‘exposed many challenges and gaps in IPC in all regions and countries, including those which had the most advanced IPC programmes’. Its first-ever Global Report on Infection Prevention and Control also found that 70% of infections could be prevented if good hand hygiene and other cost-effective practices were followed.

Healthcare workers already understand the why and the how of cleaning their hands, so education is not the solution to increasing adherence. The key is to understand the most common barriers and then introduce measures that address these. In other words, supporting healthcare staff to advance hand hygiene, rather than berating them for the lack of it.

Healthcare professionals are busy

We all know how stretched our health service is and how busy doctors and nurses are. This is one simple reason for non-compliance when it comes to hand hygiene. Last year, we undertook research with healthcare trusts and found that overburdened and stressed staff felt as if they didn’t have time to clean their hands as often as they should.

Longer-term, there needs to be a bigger conversation regarding recruitment and workloads, but in the here and now, supplying antimicrobial hand hygiene solutions in different formats can help drive positive behaviour. For example, issuing staff with small format versions, such as personal bottles of Purell Advanced Hygienic Hand Rub, enables them to sanitise whilst moving between patients and reduce this lost time.

Skin health is a big factor

For healthcare workers who must wash or sanitise hands repeatedly during a shift, skin health is a primary concern. Indeed, recent research by The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), found that 93% of clinicians surveyed have had at least one skin issue in the last 12 months. Therefore, it is critical to select products that are not only effective against germs but have also been clinically proven to maintain skin health. Acceptability is crucial, because if staff enjoy using the products they will be more likely to use them consistently which, in turn, prevents infection from spreading. A poor experience, on the other hand, will result in the opposite being true.

Check the basics

Finally, check that dispensers are in good working order, do not run empty and ensure that they are in the correct positions. They should be located as close as possible, within arm’s reach of where patient care or treatment is taking place, without having to leave the area. There should also be opportunities for hand hygiene at other prime germ hot-spots, such as entrances/ exits, waiting areas and washrooms.

Building a culture of compliance can be achieved by listening to healthcare staff and understanding their challenges. At a time when seasonal viruses are increasing, there is no time to delay.

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