The problem with 'My Five Moments for Hand Hygiene

‘The problem with...’ series covers controversial topics related to efforts to improve healthcare quality, including widely recommended, but deceptively difficult strategies for improvement and pervasive problems that seem to resist solution. Introduction Healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) are the most common adverse events affecting patients.1 The pathogens responsible are often carried on health workers’ hands, and on the evidence of epidemiological and microbiological studies, in theory hand hygiene ought to break the chain of infection.2 The WHO3 promotes ‘My Five Moments for Hand Hygiene’4 as a ‘time-space’ framework to identify points in the sequence of care when hand hygiene should occur to prevent transmission. The Five Moments conceptualise risk in relation to two virtual areas: the patient zone and the healthcare zone.4 The patient zone comprises the patient and their immediate surroundings: intact skin and all inanimate surfaces...

Source: Quality and Safety in Health Care - March 17, 2022 Category: Health Management Authors: Gould, D., Purssell, E., Jeanes, A., Drey, N., Chudleigh, J., McKnight, J. Tags: Open access, COVID-19 The problem with... Source Type: research