Don’t disregard a hand sanitizer that works Rubs are chastised for their ineffectiveness on norovirus yet research has identified one that proves the critics wrong. Formulation and process matters. Where the threat level of norovirus rises, caregivers may choose one or both these options. First, the formulation. Its trade name is Purell – 481. This […]
Handwashing’s Risk-Based Behavior Change
Facing the culture trap Handwashing behaviors are primarily driven by an assessment of risk. The Administration starts near the top of this pyramid, looking first to change the behaviors of caregivers via Nursing, Quality Assurance and Training. The C-Suite representatives are disengaged as there are no handwashing compliance reports to look at. They are content […]
International Clean Hands Week
Please join this annual campaign, sponsored by the CDC facilitated Clean Hands Coalition. Raise awareness of the dangers of poor hand hygiene. Check out a variety of ideas to improve the away-from-home wellness factor in everyone’s life. Clean hands are the cure to the spread of colds, the flu and those illnesses acquired in our […]
Assumicide
Risks rise as immune systems fall Too many healthcare risk managers are basing today’s risks on yesterday’s threats. Missed hand washes have new and costly consequences yet equipping caregivers with electronically assisted compliance systems is dangerously unhurried. Observational monitoring techniques are too expensive to reach statistical significance. Electronic Hand Hygiene Monitoring, EHHM, compliments direct observation […]
Handwashing: Culinary vs. Nursing
Winners have the data Handwashing in nursing home and hospital kitchens is often better in terms of compliance than that in Nursing areas. Surprised? Not surprised? How do we know? Data. It is not all good news for Culinary in that Nursing regularly reports a 90% handwashing compliance rate based on their admittedly flawed secret […]
Ready for Norovirus
’Tis the season to be . . . washing your hands! Great Britain uses a colorful name to describe norovirus as it went technically unclassified for years but its effects were well known, particularly in nursing homes. The “winter vomiting disease” takes its toll every year in a pattern now confirmed in this CDC slide. Norovirus […]
Innovation In Nursing Home Handwashing
Funding Enhanced Handwashing The funding step for enhanced hand hygiene proposals fill the waste baskets and shredding machines of USA nursing homes. Everyone agrees on the need, no one pulls out the checkbook. Catriona O’Connor, the Proprietor and Director of Care for a nursing home in Ireland has an answer that deserves a look. She […]
Nursing Home’s Person-Centered Handwashing
Leveraging handwashing to establish a culture of caring Our search for a nursing home that had control of their handwashing took us to Ireland, Tralee to be more specific. We had heard about its years of success in complimenting their observational handwash monitoring with electronics. This non-denominational facility, Cúil Díden, was built in 2002 and […]
Handwashing: “Not Observed”
Health Department Inspectors Feed Operator Complacency Handwashing is respected by most all restaurants and caregivers to some degree, whether in the kitchens, patient areas or resident rooms. Lip service is at 100% while compliance is more likely around 25%-40%. Check out this report sent our way from a Canadian experience that we believe may be […]
A New Handwash to Celebrate World Hand Hygiene Day
The SaniTwice® Protocol is a Special Friend of Bedridden Patients First developed for the military, this two-step, cleanse-sanitize, protocol has found many applications in water-scarce situations beyond the deserts of the Middle East where it was first deployed. The latest “desert” is the bed of the bedridden patient – at home, in hospitals, rehab centers, and nursing […]
