Hand Washing, a Key Anti-Flu Strategy, Often Neglected by Health Care Workers
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- ANTISEPSIS
- CROSS INFECTION
- DISEASE OUTBREAKS
- DISEASE TRANSMISSION, INFECTIOUS
- HANDWASHING
- HEALTH PERSONNEL
- HYGIENE
- INFECTION CONTROL
- INFLUENZA A VIRUS, H1N1 SUBTYPE
- INFLUENZA, HUMAN
- WORLD HEALTH
As the 2009 influenza A(H1N1) virus expands its reach, health officials continue to stress the importance of hand washing as the first line of defense in prevention. Particularly in health care settings, hand antisepsis has long been recognized as a key factor in minimizing the spread of pathogenic microorganisms and limiting health care–associated infections. Yet getting health care workers, including physicians and nurses, to wash their hands remains a problem. In response, new patient safety programs from the Joint Commission and the World Health Organization (WHO) are placing their initial focus on improving compliance with hand hygiene standards.
On September 10, the Joint Commission launched its Center for Transforming Healthcare, which seeks to identify effective quality and safety practices that can be implemented at a broad range of institutions, said Mark R. Chassin, MD, MPH, Joint Commission president. Its first target: hand cleanliness. “We conducted a little poll giving institutions …
