The reductions of infections among patients can be greatly improved if health care workers quit being irresponsible and start following hand hygiene policies. Hospitals need to enforce hand hygiene compliance rather than relying on encouraging doctors and nurses to do it themselves. Hand hygiene is an effective way to prevent the spread of infections. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 40 percent of nosocomial infections in patients are caused by poor hygiene of doctors. Another report has also found that the average hand washing rate for health care workers was roughly 10 percent. For the most part, hand hygiene is non-compulsory and hospitals only encourage physicians. However, there are techniques today that actually enforce
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As stated previously, less than 10 percent of health care workers wash their hands. Among all health care workers, doctors have one of the lowest compliance to hand washing. According to a report from the New York Times, approximately 1.7 million patients develop hospital acquired infections, and of these more 100,000 patients die every year in the United States due to poor hand hygiene in hospitals. The report also states that hospitals spend more than 30 billion dollars in health care cost per year in order to treat these patients. Many doctors report that they have no time to wash their hands or have excessive dry hands. Some of them just don’t want to be told what to do. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been acquiring data and developed guidelines that will help shape the future of the medical profession. They have published posters and other visual images around hospitals in order encourage doctors to comply with hand hygiene. These educational initiatives have been encouraging, but they have not enforced doctors to comply. So far there has been little improvement in hand washing compliance among health care workers. Researchers have studied new techniques with the potential to enforce hand hygiene between doctors and nurses, such as video …show more content…
In hospitals with this type of method, the wristbands are scanned on to hand-washing and sanitizing stations, where an accelerometer detects how long a doctor spends washing. These stations will be next to patient rooms to make sure that doctors are prepared for the procedure. The wristband will also buzz or vibrate when it’s either done correctly and three buzzes when it’s not. The data from the bracelet is then handed to the hospital’s epidemiologists, checking to see whether they are doing fine or not. This new system will increase hand hygiene throughout the hospital because it will help make doctors comply and conform with the guidelines for hand washing so their patients won’t be ill from the bacteria that they could possibly spread to
As stated previously, less than 10 percent of health care workers wash their hands. Among all health care workers, doctors have one of the lowest compliance to hand washing. According to a report from the New York Times, approximately 1.7 million patients develop hospital acquired infections, and of these more 100,000 patients die every year in the United States due to poor hand hygiene in hospitals. The report also states that hospitals spend more than 30 billion dollars in health care cost per year in order to treat these patients. Many doctors report that they have no time to wash their hands or have excessive dry hands. Some of them just don’t want to be told what to do. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been acquiring data and developed guidelines that will help shape the future of the medical profession. They have published posters and other visual images around hospitals in order encourage doctors to comply with hand hygiene. These educational initiatives have been encouraging, but they have not enforced doctors to comply. So far there has been little improvement in hand washing compliance among health care workers. Researchers have studied new techniques with the potential to enforce hand hygiene between doctors and nurses, such as video …show more content…
In hospitals with this type of method, the wristbands are scanned on to hand-washing and sanitizing stations, where an accelerometer detects how long a doctor spends washing. These stations will be next to patient rooms to make sure that doctors are prepared for the procedure. The wristband will also buzz or vibrate when it’s either done correctly and three buzzes when it’s not. The data from the bracelet is then handed to the hospital’s epidemiologists, checking to see whether they are doing fine or not. This new system will increase hand hygiene throughout the hospital because it will help make doctors comply and conform with the guidelines for hand washing so their patients won’t be ill from the bacteria that they could possibly spread to