Ways To Decrease Patient Infections When Being Cared For
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), surfaces that are touched frequently, such as door knobs, bedrails, mobile devices and lavatories, may accumulate microbes, which can transfer infections and illness rather quickly.
No one wants their server at a restaurant to bring them food with unclean hands. Parents all make sure their kids wash their hands when leaving the restroom. When you sneeze, you use a tissue. These are all simple ways to make sure germs don’t spread and contaminate others.
But just imagine getting an infection in the one place you go to feel better: the hospital. How many people use that pen at the check-in desk to register their name? How many doctors or nurses use the medication scanner in each room? Where were their hands before? Is it possible those computer keyboards aren’t as clean as they should be? Absolutely.
For individuals, the CDC recommends a strict regimen of cleaning and disinfecting as an important adjunct measure to hand hygiene. Can these same measures be taken in the hospital setting? Again, absolutely.
Recent studies have shown that educational interventions can significantly increase cleaning rates of frequently touched surfaces. Once the hospital staff can get into the routine of wiping down the keyboard, medication scanner and even the registration pen, the amount of hospital-related infections can severely decrease.
Thankfully there are hospitals and healthcare services providers taking those first steps to increase patient care and safety. Recently it was announced that McKesson was partnering with Clorox to jointly develop disinfection protocols which will drastically decrease the risk of patient infection in the hospital setting. Mary Beth Navarra of McKesson was stated as saying “Infection control is a key element of patient safety. By collaborating with Clorox, we can help customers lower the risk of inadvertently transporting harmful microorganisms among patient rooms.”
Feeling safe at the hospital is something we all expect and shouldn’t have to take for granted. When hospitals are taking the steps to protect patients, those hospitals are more respected and trusted. And don’t forget, the patients feel better too.
