How To Prevent Hand Hygiene Essay

Great Essays
Infection Prevention: Hand Hygiene
Kayla M. Fleming
Milwaukee Area Technical College
NRSAD 114: Management and Professional Concepts
October 16th, 2016

Infection Prevention: Hand Hygiene
It’s hard to imagine washing or sanitizing your hands every time you touch someone you’ve known for a very long time. Hand hygiene seems common place in hospital settings but may sometimes go lacking in long term care settings due simply to familiarity with the people being cared for. Regardless of the setting, the Clinical practice guidelines are the same. The purpose of this paper will be to explore the Long Term Care National Patient Safety Goal of Infection Prevention: Hand Hygiene, the Evidence-based guideline related to the National Patient Safety
…show more content…
On any given day, about one in twenty-five hospital patients has at least one healthcare associated infection.” (CDC, 2016, partial site paragraph). To promote patient safety and prevent this from happening Joint Commission has National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) 07.01.01 Prevent Infection. For this goal, the hand cleaning guidelines from the centers for disease control and Prevention or the World Health Organization can be used. The NPSG is to set goals for improving hand cleaning and use the goals to improve hand cleaning (jointcommision.org, 2016 National Patient Safety Goals …show more content…
(2016, April 28). Hand hygiene in healthcare settings. Retrieved October 15, 2016, from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, http://www.cdc.gov/handhygiene/index.html

Cherry, B., Jacob, S. R., RN, S. K. B., & Barbara Cherry DNSc MBA RN NEA-BC (2013). Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management, 6e (6th ed.). Philadelphia, PA, United States: Elsevier Health Sciences.

Chopra, T., & Goldstein, E. J. C. (2015). Clostridium difficile infection in long-term care facilities: A call to action for Antimicrobial stewardship. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 60(suppl 2), S72–S76. doi:10.1093/cid/civ053

Gerding, D. N., Muto, C. A., & Owens, Jr., R. C. (2008). Measures to control and prevent Clostridium difficile infection. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 46(s1), S43–S49. doi:10.1086/521861

Retrieved October 14, 2016, from https://www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/6/2016_NPSG_LT2_ER.pdf

Marra, A. R., & Edmond, M. B. (2014). New technologies to monitor healthcare worker hand hygiene. Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 20(1), 29–33. doi:10.1111/1469-0691.12458

Retrieved October 15, 2016, from

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Annotated Bibliography: Decreasing the risk of Clostridium Difficile (CDIFF) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2015) Clostridium difficile Infection http://www.cdc.gov/HAI/organisms/cdiff/Cdiff_infect.html This particular site by the CDC summarizes all the Healthcare-associated Infections (HAIs), the organism that cause the disease and its data and statistics. Then it breaks down each infection one by one with an easy to read fact sheet. This is a great resource that merely summarizes each infections transmission, ways to treat the infections and is a good resource on prevention.…

    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Unit 362

    • 852 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Although medical and nursing staff employ the use of standard and additional precautions the single most important thing that staff can do whilst working is perform effective hand washing to reduce the risks of cross contamination. Everyone has some form of resident flora on their body, this helps the host to stay healthy but when this resident flora is transferred by contact to another person this may cause the person to become ill. In addition to this resident flora a person picks up infectious particles through contact with other people or environmental surroundings (Koutoukidis et al, 2013, p 361). The most effective way an enrolled nurse or other health care workers can decrease the risk of transmission of these infectious organisms is…

    • 852 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Nsg Safe Nursing

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Another element of safe nursing practice is to prevent infection and the most important way to do this is stated in NPSG.07.01.01. Hand washing guided from the Centers for Disease Control, setting and using goals to improve hand washing…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dr. John Mutziger replies to this question by stating, “Hand washing is the number one strategy for infection control risk management.” He then continues to state that screening takes place for infectious diseases when patients come in through Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) screening, vitals, and analysis, such as urinary tract infections (UTI) (Dr. John Mutziger, D.O., personal communication, November 4, 2015). On the other hand, Dr. Arnold says that the first step is to identify infectious diseases that come in with patients and if detected, then isolation and treatment takes place to prevent from spreading to others. He also goes on to explain that the next big thing is to make sure that any infectious diseases do not spread from Alliance workers to patients. Because of this, there is a strict hand washing policy and also, food items must be handled with care.…

    • 1293 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Joint Commission Case

    • 1139 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The handwashing practices are established by the Centers for Disease Control. Furthermore, providers are required to submit a report the permanent loss of function and deaths related to nosocomial infection. For instance, Barnes-Jewish Hospital at Washington University Medical…

    • 1139 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    I feel that this is an experience that every student in healthcare should go through. One of the most important observations that I made concerns the various procedures of preventing infections in the operating room. The prevention majorly focuses on the patient, especially when considered the patient has open sounds during the operating process. At times, the practitioners tend to forget the importance of cleaning their hands with soap and water or with alcohol-based cleaners when interacting with the environment (Scott, Earl, Leaper, Massey, Mewburn, Williams, 1999). Notably, the assumption that the practitioner does not need to clean hands simply because they have gloves is misplaced, and it is often overlooked (Weber, Anderson, &Rutala, 2013; Karki& Cheng, 201)).…

    • 2140 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Health care-acquired infection (HCAI) is a foremost problem for patient safety and its surveillance. Prevention of HCAI has got to be the first main concern for settings and institutions dedicated to making health care safer. The impact of HCAI implies extended hospital stay, long-term disability, increased antimicrobials resistance of microorganisms, massive extra economic load, high expenses for patients and their families, and excess mortalities ( Boyce J., 2009). In the USA, 10%, or 2 million, patients a year become infected (HCAI), with the annual cost ranging from $4.5 billion to $11 billion. The most frequent type of infection hospital-wide is urinary tract infection (36%), followed by surgical site infection (20%), and bloodstream infection and pneumonia (both 11%)(World Health Organization, 2009).…

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Scope Of Practice

    • 1427 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Hand washing lessens the possibilities of spreading an infection, which means it decreases the chances of healthcare acquired infections (Mortell, 2012, p. 1011). As a result, patient illness and mortality rates should decrease in a similar manner that healthcare acquired infection rates decline (Mortell, 2012, p. 1011). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “reminds healthcare professionals that cleaning our hands is the most important thing to promote good health and prevent transmission of pathogens” (as cited in Martell, 2012, p. 1012). By maintaining proper hand hygiene, Lola was promoting good health, which directly relates to the health-promoting role that clinical practice nurses should have.…

    • 1427 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    First, we need to be educated on the infections. Each microorganism has a chain of infection. They all have a reservoir, portal of exit, mode of transmission, a portal of entry, host, and back to the infectious agent that starts the process over again unless people are educated and break the cycle of infection. Evidence based practice shows that hand hygiene is the most important practice to prevent the spread of microorganisms. Although depending on the organism’s reservoir, mode of transmission, portal of exit and entry, different precautions need to be in place.…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Infection Prevention Megan Scott Rasmussen College Author Note This research is being submitted on February 26th, 2017 for Julie Deane’s NUR2155 Fundamentals of Professional Nursing course. Every year National Patient Safety Goals are set by the Joint Commission to acknowledge specific concerns in each health care setting. The purpose of these goals are to improve patient safety by identifying the problems and how to solve them (Joint Commission, 2016). Although prevalent, infections remain an ongoing concern in all heath care settings, especially in long term care.…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    to hospital acquired infections are flagged for the minimization of direct contact with healthcare providers and visitors who are not wearing protective gloves, gowns, etc. The third measure requires increased hand washing. The fourth measure involves a continued program promotion of environmental culture alteration in which all workers in the hospital are trained to become proactive with infection control and patient safety (Rosenberg, 2015). The individual hired at each V.A. hospital to run the program is an infection control nurse. Moreover, the program is well funded for whatever materials are necessary, including screening measures among other things, that the infection control nurse deems important for the success of the program (Rosenberg,…

    • 1662 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    This should be something that is observed, documented, and researched more to see if the antiseptic really makes a difference. The outcome of that research might be the push that medical personnel need to take the extra step in using the hand antiseptic. One study does suggest that the risk of bacteriuria is equally as high if an antiseptic gel is used versus when not used; however, one study is not enough to be considered to be used as evidence based practice (Tenke et al., 2008). A change that should be implemented across hospitals is having health care workers be observed while performing hand hygiene upon hire, and randomly throughout their employment at their institution. This could ensure that everyone is on the same page with hand hygiene and that the correct procedure is followed and continues to be followed while that person is still employed.…

    • 1248 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Influenza Virus Essay

    • 384 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Bacteria are prokaryotic microorganisms that have no nucleus. Often times these forms of bacteria usually don’t need much to live and can reproduce rather quickly. These bacteria can cause a lot of major diseases and the only way to get around these problems is to maintain a perfect hygiene. Our hands especially, which are constantly filled with bacteria that can cause major harm to the body. Hospitals are easily considered one of the places with a lot of bacteria and infectious diseases.…

    • 384 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Picot Question

    • 1294 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Retrieved from Henry The Hand: http://www.henrythehand.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Hand-Hygiene-Challenges-and-Strategies.pdf World Health Organization. (2012). Hand Hygiene in Outpatient and Home-based Care. Geneva: World Health Organzation…

    • 1294 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    MRSA Prevention

    • 171 Words
    • 1 Pages

    The most common solution for preventing MRSA infection is to be compliant with the National Patient Safety Goals. Education of healthcare providers and families on daily preventive strategies will help to reduce incidents of MRSA infection in hospital setting. Hand hygiene guidelines that are published by Center of Disease and Control must followed by all healthcare providers and family members of an infected person. According to Preventing Hospital Association infection article, the most common cause of transition infection from patient to patient in a hospital is through contaminated hands of a healthcare (Mary Woten, 2016)are worker (Marcella Upshaw-Owens, 2012). Also, CDC and SHEA recommend follow the contact precautions for the patients…

    • 171 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays