Prior to the onset of COVID-19, the United States had a pretty poor record of hand washing compliance among both the general public AND healthcare workers.
In the University of North Carolina Hand Hygiene Compliance Program Overview published in 2019, a review of 34 published studies of hand washing adherence among healthcare workers found that compliance rates varied from 5% to 81%. The average was 40%.
Why have we not kept up with the rest of the world in communicating the importance of such a basic means of preventing disease spread? I was working with a client in Saudi Arabia and the evidence of their focus was clear….EDUCATION! They utilized signage at all entrances to patient care areas and had trade show like banners in all public entrances and major travel areas.
How about cell phone cleaning? It’s probably the dirtiest thing anyone can bring into a patient room. It’s sad that of the thousands of patient areas I have been in over my career, I have only seen this sign one time.
Hand Hygiene is one very simple and cost-effective step that every healthcare provider can implement and reinforce immediately though something as simple as posting a few signs. This has to be an In Your Face topic.
Have we put so much focus on our pretty hospital that we are afraid to include signage on our walls? Why are we putting foam next to the soap at the sink and not at the bedside WHERE WORK TAKES PLACE (think Kaizen). Are we so focused on the pretty that we have lost sight of the practical?
Food for thought.
Paladin Healthcare is an Industry Partner of NIHD. Through universal rail systems, Paladin Healthcare’s Gary Schindele provides insight on how to transform spaces from rigid and rundown to regenerative and renewed.
