Hand Hygiene
edge hill university armstrong house | How does hand washing influence the prevention of healthcare acquired infections (HCAIs)? | Practice Essay | | | 5/21/2013 | Word Count: 1059 |
This essay will examine and compare the different methods of hand washing in the perioperative environment and how hand washing influences the prevention of healthcare acquired infections (HCAIs). It will show the importance of washing hands thoroughly to remove bacteria to prevent HCAIs. It will include the differences between the surgical hand wash, the social hand wash and the use of alcohol rubs.
According to Pirie (2010) hand hygiene is very important to perioperative practice and over the years has become more important for health care workers. Muralidhar and Muralidhar (2007) indicated that HCAIs are a major problem to patients and the health services as a whole; HCAIs are increasing and hospitals are struggling to maintain high standards of hygiene to keep out HCAIs. A health care worker has a variety of pathogens, including bacteria, viruses and fungi on their hands; some of these are harmless whilst others can be serious to patients that are in hospital (Resources, 2008). The pathogens which are of most concern include; Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus (VRE), Clostridium Difficile and Influenza Virus (Resources, 2008).
Health Protection Agency (2010) stated that HCAIs are more than likely to travel from one person to another through skin to skin contamination for example, touching a patient’s hand and then moving on to another patient without washing the hands. Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (2005:1) ‘estimate that 9% of in-patients have an HCAI at any one time, equivalent to at least 300,000 HCAIs per year in the UK. HCAIs may cause 5,000 deaths and contribute to over 15,000 deaths per year in the UK’.
Damani (2003) specified that keeping good hand hygiene is important because a
This essay will examine and compare the different methods of hand washing in the perioperative environment and how hand washing influences the prevention of healthcare acquired infections (HCAIs). It will show the importance of washing hands thoroughly to remove bacteria to prevent HCAIs. It will include the differences between the surgical hand wash, the social hand wash and the use of alcohol rubs.
According to Pirie (2010) hand hygiene is very important to perioperative practice and over the years has become more important for health care workers. Muralidhar and Muralidhar (2007) indicated that HCAIs are a major problem to patients and the health services as a whole; HCAIs are increasing and hospitals are struggling to maintain high standards of hygiene to keep out HCAIs. A health care worker has a variety of pathogens, including bacteria, viruses and fungi on their hands; some of these are harmless whilst others can be serious to patients that are in hospital (Resources, 2008). The pathogens which are of most concern include; Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus (VRE), Clostridium Difficile and Influenza Virus (Resources, 2008).
Health Protection Agency (2010) stated that HCAIs are more than likely to travel from one person to another through skin to skin contamination for example, touching a patient’s hand and then moving on to another patient without washing the hands. Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (2005:1) ‘estimate that 9% of in-patients have an HCAI at any one time, equivalent to at least 300,000 HCAIs per year in the UK. HCAIs may cause 5,000 deaths and contribute to over 15,000 deaths per year in the UK’.
Damani (2003) specified that keeping good hand hygiene is important because a
Bibliography: Association of Perioperative Practice. (2010) ‘Surgical Hand Antisepsis’ Surgical Hand Antisepsis. (1) pp. 1-2 CCAR: Hand Hygiene for Health Care Settings Coyne, I. Timmins, F. Neil, F. (2010) Clinical Skills in Children’s Nursing. New York: Oxford University Press Damani, N Denham, J. (2001) ‘Surgical Hand Washing/Disinfection’ Journal of Hospital Infection. pp 21-37 Ghorbani, A Goodman, T & Spry, C. (2009) Essential of Perioperative Nursing. 5th ed. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning Health Care and Professions Council (2012) Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics Institution for Healthcare Environment (2011) ‘How –to Guide: Improving Hand Hygiene’ http://www.shea-online.org [Accessed 26 may 2013] Murakidhar, V & Murakidhar, S National Protection Agency (2010) General Information on Health Care Associated Infection (HCAI) Public Health England. http://www.hpa.org.uk/ [Accessed 21 May 2013] Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology Pirie, S. (2010)’ Hand Washing and Surgical Hand Antisepsis’ Journal of perioperative Care. 20 (5). pp 169-172 Resources, J.C The Royal College of Nursing. (2012). Wipe it Out One Chance to Get it Right. Essential Practice for Infection Prevention and Control. http://www.rcn.org.uk/ [Accessed 21 May 2013] Stainton, K Weston, D. (2008) Infection Prevention and Control. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Ltd Wilson, R