Hand Decontamination Essay

460 Words2 Pages
Hand decontamination is the most effective and definitely the most cost-effective, method of avoiding infections related to poor hand hygiene. The aim of hand decontamination is to significantly reduce the carriage of potential pathogens on the hands that can potentially be dangerous to patients and healthcare workers. Decontamination refers to the process of removal of blood, bodily fluids and destruction (elimination) of micro-organism from the hands. Current national and international guidelines suggest that hand decontamination should be performed before and after patient contact. Deciding when to decontaminate your hand can be a little bit daunting. This is why, therefore, guidelines have been made to highlight the four key factors in hand hygiene to help workers and patients decide when to decontaminate their hands. Healthcare workers needs to anticipate the level of contact with patients or objects to eliminate the chance of developing further pathogen related disease. Furthermore, workers also need to foresee the extent of contamination that can occur with the contact and patient’s various care activities being performed (Boyce and Pittet, 2002, Pratt et al, 2001). There is without doubt, that these factors have set a foundation to promote a safe hand hygiene practice without guessing when and where to decontaminate. The transmissions of microorganism from one patient to another via (through) the hands, or from patient’s hands that has been decontaminated may result in adverse clinical outcomes. Overviews of epidemiological evidence concluded that hand mediated transmissions is the major contributing factor in the current infection threats to these infection includes staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) and multi-resistant Gram –negative organism (MRSA), such as Acinetobacter SPP and Vancomycin- resistant enterococci (VRE). There is also a imminent threat to

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