Problematic Hand Sanitation Can Lead to Healthcare-Acquired Infection

Conclusion

If things are left as they are, the HAI problem will get worse. The epidemic will spread deep and wide unless improper hand sanitation in hospitals is corrected. The recognized obstacles to hand sanitation must be overcome at the point of patient care to have a positive impact on healthcare outcomes. Since current approaches are not working, new convenient, broad-spectrum and user-friendly hand sanitation techniques must be developed and implemented.

A mandatory protocol, now increasingly recognized, would require instant gloved-hand sanitation each time the patient is about to be touched. The lack of such capability prevents a solution to the HAI problem no matter how assiduously bare-hand sanitation between patients is practiced. Forward-looking infection control experts all agree with this assertion.¹⁶

The winning strategy, making considerable strides toward the currently promoted zero tolerance goals,¹⁷ would be for HCWs to always don gloves and instantly sanitize them multiple times during patient encounters. Such an approach would dramatically lower infection rate due to significantly lowering the bio load on the gloved hands, by offering more convenience to the HCWs, and by adding another layer of protection for both nurses and their patients.

Cheryl Perkins is president of Innovationedge LLC, and a former senior vice president and chief innovation officer for Kimberly-Clark Corporation.

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15. MRSA shows up as a phosphorescent greenish glow under a blacklight at the VA Hospital in Pittsburgh. Photo by Jeff Swensen/NYT.

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