Celebrate World Hand Hygiene Day with us! Infection Preventionists around the world are doing so much to reduce the spread of disease in healthcare facilities and beyond. We want to show our thanks by promoting healthy hand hygiene practices.
This year, the World Health Organization’s slogan for World Hand Hygiene Day is, “Accelerate action together. SAVE LIVES – Clean Your Hands.” Their aim is to improve hand hygiene at point of care by reminding healthcare workers to love the 5 Moments.
What are the 5 Moments?
The 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene are key moments when healthcare workers should perform hand hygiene. This evidence-based, field-tested, user-centered approach is designed to be easy to learn, logical, and applicable in a wide range of settings.
- Before Patient Contact
- Before Aseptic Task
- After Body Fluid Exposure Risk
- After Patient Contact
- After Contact with Patient Surroundings
Reducing the spread of HAIs begins with clean hands. Healthcare staff members, patients, and visitors can all benefit when hands are cleaned during the 5 moments.
Improving Hand Hygiene at Point of Care
Point of Care refers to the moments when healthcare workers are in contact with patients and are at the highest risk of spreading infections. This includes most of the 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene. By increasing opportunities for hand hygiene at Point of Care, healthcare facilities can keep hand sanitizer and hand wash available at key times, including before and after patient contact.
Due to the high risk of the spread of HAIs, the Joint Commission recognizes individual failure to follow hand hygiene procedures during point of care as a deficiency. This means that a complete hand hygiene program includes Point of Care tools that give healthcare workers easy access to hand hygiene opportunities while working directly with patients.
Access to hand sanitizer at a W.O.W., tray table, anesthesia cart, or on your person makes hand hygiene more convenient for workers. Symmetry® offers Point of Care options for all of these and more:
- Tray Table/W.O.W. to ml
- Suction Cup 550 ml
- 50 ml Lanyard
- Suction Cup 50 ml
- Anesthesia Cart Bracket 550 ml
Hand hygiene is a year-round commitment for healthcare facilities. We thank our Infection Preventionists this World Hand Hygiene Day for the work they do all year long to keep us safe.
Contact your local representative to see how these tools can help improve compliance in your facility.