Did you know that healthcare-associated infections are among the most frequently occurring adverse events within healthcare service delivery?
Infection prevention and control, particularly hand hygiene, is essential for achieving better health care. Not only is it a practical and evidence-based approach with a demonstrated impact on quality of care and patient safety, it is also a cheap and accessible effective measure that all healthcare professionals can, and should, implement.
Led by WHO, World Hand Hygiene Day on the 5th of May is a global campaign dedicated to preventing healthcare-associated infection (HAIs). This year, we find this topic particularly pressing due to growing evidence demonstrating that, despite advancements like e-learning modules, hand hygiene rates are below national benchmarks.
Jincy Jerry, Assistant Director of Nursing IPC at Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, attributes this trend to the Covid-19 pandemic. In her recent webinar for Blue Mirror, she highlights the difficulty some healthcare workers face in prioritising hand hygiene; high staff turnover rates, which we have seen on a national scale, have resulted in heavy workload and time constraints, resulting in decreased compliance. Additionally, some healthcare workers perceive themselves as low risk for spreading infections, while others underestimate the importance of hand hygiene. You can view Jincy’s Blue Mirror’s webinar clip here to learn more.
This trend is detrimental to the healthcare sector, and we must ensure every effort is taken to uphold optimum infection control standards to prevent infections and antimicrobial resistance. With this aim, Jincy collaborated with AI training tool, Blue Mirror, to improve her team’s retention rate of hand hygiene education with reduced resource requirements during training. For Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Blue Mirror streamlined training processes and improved hand hygiene compliance, reducing the risk of HAIs.
To elevate hand hygiene education and drive compliance rates in your team, visit the Blue Mirror website here. Or, to learn more about their Hand Hygiene Module, click here.
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