Handwashing
June 2008

IRELAND: Handwashing must become a habit, says minister
26.jun.08
Nursing In Practice
Jane Holloway
http://www.nursinginpractice.com/default.asp?title=Handwashingmustbecomeahabit%2Csaysminister&page=article.display&article.id=11977Clean hands are the most effective tool in the fight against healthcare-associated infections.
That was the key message from Northern Ireland's Health Minister Michael McGimpsey as he launched the regional "cleanyourhands" campaign to highlight the importance of hand hygiene among healthcare staff and visitors.
Launching the campaign at the Mater Hospital in Belfast, Michael McGimpsey said: "Handwashing must become a habit that is integral to healthcare culture and openly discussed. Patients should be encouraged to feel comfortable to ask staff if they have washed their hands before treating them. Equally, staff should also ensure that visitors wash their hands and should provide advice where necessary.

ONTARIO: Hand-wringing over handwashing; Patients don't want to ask doc if hands are clean
02.jun.08
The Hamilton Spectator
Carmela Fragomeni
http://www.thespec.com/article/378866
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/2008/06/articles/handwashing/would-you-ask-your-doctor-if-she-washed-her-hands/index.html
Would you ask your doctor if he has washed his hands?
Health officials say you should, because handwashing is critical to reducing the spread of infections such as C. difficile.
But, according to this story, the question is not that simple for a patient to ask.
Hamilton resident Maria Pimentel was quoted as saying of her doctor, "I'm not comfortable to ask him because maybe he'd get upset."
Olive Powell (no relation -- dp), one of 62 patients who died of C. difficile at Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital, would never have dreamt of asking her doctor such a question, says daughter-in-law Deborah Powell, adding, "My mother-in-law thought doctors were gods."
The 83-year-old didn't even like her family questioning her doctor, says Deborah.
Dr. David Higgins, chief of staff at St. Joe's in Hamilton, was cited as saying if he were to fail to wash his hands, he hopes patients would called him on it, adding, "I should thank the person for doing it. That's the ideal culture."
St. Joseph's Healthcare infection control manager Ruth Stevenson, however, was cited as saying many people are afraid to question their doctor about handwashing, adding, "People feel intimidated by health care."
Stevenson says the system has to build confidence in patients so that "if they have a question, they feel comfortable asking it. And that they get the answers they need."
Linda VanRysell believes doctors would always automatically be washing their hands before examining a patient, stating, "I assume they're professional."

AUSTRALIA: Hand-washing may beat superbug
01.jun.08
AAP
The Age
http://news.theage.com.au/national/handwashing-may-beat-superbug-20080601-2kdn.html
Professor Lindsay Grayson, from the University of Melbourne and her colleagues carried out a two-year pilot program using alcohol-based hand rub solutions for staff in a Victoria hospital, and the improvement on both hand cleanliness and MRSA rates was dramatic.
Prof Grayson was quoted as writing in the latest Medical Journal of Australia, "This appears to be possibly the single most effective initiative to addressing the current problems with MRSA in our hospitals. Long-term sustainability of improved hand hygiene compliance is likely to require that such programs become a permanent feature of how each hospital does business."
Canberra-based infectious diseases expert Professor Peter Collignon, an authority on superbug infection, says improvements to hand hygiene are vital if Australia is to improve its "uncomfortably high" infection rates.