Why Don’t We Wash Our Hands?

Courtesy of the SMACC Podcast, my hand hygiene talk from SMACC Chicago has just been released… Enjoy! Hand hygiene is widely regarded as the bedrock for the prevention of healthcare associated infections (HAIs). HAIs are among the biggest killers in modern medicine. Yet, hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers remains woefully poor. Why can’t we learn the lessons that Semmelweis taught us nearly 150 years ago? If we can’t teach intelligent healthcare workers to wash their hands properly, what hope do we have as medical educators? This is both a patient safety and a medical education priority. Our patients’ lives are at risk and they deserve better. So, how can we change our patient’s microbiological cultures? By changing our culture. The power, it seems, is in our hands. The Podcast: The Slides: Why don’t we wash out hands? Chris Nickson Learn more here: LITFL CCC — Hand hygiene Hand Hygiene Australia World Health Organisation. WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care. In: World Alliance for Patient Safety, editor. First Global Patient Safety Challenge Clean Care is Safer Care. 1 ed. Geneva: World Health Organisation Press; 2009. [Website with access to free full text] The post Why Don’t We Wash Our Hands? appeared first on LITFL: Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog.
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Emergency Medicine Infectious Disease Intensive Care SMACC chicago culture change hand hygiene hand washing infection control Source Type: blogs