Infection prevention in hospitals: The importance of hand hygiene.

Infection prevention in hospitals: The importance of hand hygiene. Hand hygiene is described by many health care workers as the single most important tool in preventing the spread of health care-associated infections between patients. According to WHO, there are few definitive data on the patient-care activities that are most likely to transmit bacteria to health care worker (HCW) hands, but there have been several studies that identified many possibilities. Although bacteria have been found on HCW hands after activities such as wound care, intravascular catheter care, respiratory tract care and handling patient secretions as expected, bacteria also have been found on HCW hands after so-called “clean” contact, such as taking a patient’s pulse, temperature or blood pressure. Organisms found on HCW hands after such patient contact range from Klebsiella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium difficile, MRSA and gram-negative bacteria. However, direct patient contact is not the only way HCW hands can be contaminated. HCWs can acquire bacteria on their hands by touching contaminated surfaces in the patient environment and simply by touching a contaminated chart at the nurses’ station, according to the literature. Washing hands before and after patient contact seems like a simple solution to prevent the spread of bacteria between patients. Most hospitals have hand hygiene policies in place that guide their employees to do just that. But it is not as simple as it seems. Hospital