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Hand Hygiene - A weapon in the war against antimicrobial resistance

15th of May 2014 - Article by Mike Sullivan

 

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been a topic that has exercised the minds of healthcare professionals for a number of years now. AMR can make the treatment of infections more difficult, creating a greater risk of death, and significantly increase the costs of healthcare. It's therefore no surprise that WHO has chosen to base its 2014 Clean Your Hands global annual campaign around the issue of AMR.

 

This year's campaign, called ‘No action today; no cure tomorrow - make the WHO 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene part of protecting your patients from resistant germs' - centred around a day of action in May and involved healthcare professional right across the world.

The risks posed by AMR make hand hygiene even more crucial in healthcare settings. Hospitals are well versed on the benefits of promoting good hand hygiene practice to staff and visitors - but the best results are achieved by providing ‘total solutions' encompassing solid programming, products and formulations, combined with the WHO's multimodal implementation programme. Hand hygiene solution providers, such as those involved in ‘Private Organisations for Patient Safety; (POPS) can then support this approach with effective education/communication campaigns, plus on-going support and training for staff.

 

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