Safety First: Standard Precautions in the Operating Department.

During this last visit, Dr. M made some mistakes which may have played a crucial role in Jacob acquiring an infection, or, in the least, contributed to negligence. After removing Jacob’s cast, Dr. M did not complete his examination of Jacob’s leg before he left the room to exam another patient, Sarah, in the room across the hall. Upon entering the room, he did not close the door. The most obvious mistake the doctor did was not washing his hands after his examination of Sarah, who has osteomyelitis, after which he returned to the first exam room to continue his examination of Jacob’s leg. Hand washing plays a major role in preventing cross-contamination when caring for patients. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2014), washing hands is an extremely important way to prevent the spread of infection from patient to patient or patient to health care professional. It is essential that all health care providers practice hand hygiene even if gloves are worn. There

Hand hygiene has been identified as one of the simplest, but the most significant measure to prevent and control the spread of hospital acquired infections (WHO, 2009). Furthermore, it is also considered a cheap measurement for infection control (Allegranzi et al., 2007). Hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers is underutilised and interventions to develop it are absent sustainability in developing countries (Gould et al., 2008). In the mid-1880s, the Austrian physician Ignaz P. Semmelweis was the first doctor who reported the critical role of the hands of the healthcare providers in transmitting hospital acquired infections (Allegranzi and Pittet, 2008). Hospital-acquired infections (HAI) remain a big challenge to the patient safety (WHO, 2009). It affects hundreds of million individuals worldwide ever year (Allegranzi et al., 2007). Healthcare-associated infection is regarded as one of the main reasons for long staying longer in hospitals, increasing the cost of the patient treatment, and causing higher morbidity and mortality rates (Mathai

Dirty hands is the common source of spreading infection. It is very important to keep hands clean to avoid getting infected and spreading infection in the community. It is important to wash hands to keep hands clean. There are two ways to keep hand clean, one way is wash hands with soap and warm water while rubbing hands together for minimum 15 to 30 seconds. Indication of washing hands with soap and water is when hands are visibly dirty, before and after eating, feeding, using the toilet, after coughing or sneezing, after using gloves, taking care of patients. There is also second way to clean hands, but it is advisable to wash hands with soap and water all the time, but it can ignore when soap and water is not available so it is okay to use hand gel or foam in the form of sanitizer. This helps to clean hands or kill germs when hands are not visibly dirty.

Healthcare associated infections have an impact on patients - how? Can be prevented greatly with compliance to hand hygiene protocols (REF).

Consistence change is connected with lessened contamination rates and resistance spread. Hand rub application as indicated by prescribed practices is another option to ordinary surgical hand cleaning with disinfectant cleanser and water for surgical hand readiness. Therefore for the hospital to prevent infections and decrease infection rates, a system change will be essential to change a hand hygiene agent, encourage and facilitate skin care, and introduce monitoring and regular performance feedback of hand hygiene compliance.

To help the prevention of infection spreading is by knowing the method of washing your hand because we carry most bacteria sue to the open air that we come in contact with. For example we use are hands to shake hands with someone holding or touching objects. When you are performing any form of hand hygiene you will need to make sure that you have washed your hand with anti-bacterial liquid soap; this is to help prevent any bacteria which we already have on our hands. In all health and social care settings an automatic liquid dispenser should be placed so that when washing hands any individual doesn’t touch or need to even sneeze any part of the liquid

The hospital is compliant with infection control protocol according to the CDC standard guidelines. “Hand hygiene, contact precautions, as well as cleaning and disinfecting patient care equipment and the patient’s environment are essential strategies for preventing the spread of health care–associated infections. Hand hygiene is addressed in NPSG.07.01.01. Contact precautions for patients with

Patients have observed several physicians and nurses not washing their hands before interacting with patients. Hand hygiene is one of the largest tactics to combat nosocomial infections. The hospital should adopt a culture of 100% compliance with hand washing. The first step would be to increase handwashing stations and have more quick-dry alcohol-based antibacterial soap dispensers. Making access easier and decreasing the time taken to wash one’s hands would encourage adherence the policy. Furthermore, each floor should track hand washing and report data of potential nosocomial infections caused by improper handwashing. Keeping patients protected from bacteria is important especially when most are in an immunocompromised

Prevention strategies of nosocomial infections related to poor hand hygiene include revision of: orientation, training processes, competency assessments, equipment cleaning, handwashing procedures, switching to the use of single-use IV flush vials, adding strategically located waterless hand rubs, defining supervisory expectations, conducting in-services, team trainings, and tracking systems (Infection control related sentinel events, 2003). Potential solutions to noncompliance include: consistent skin protectant application, reduced time required for handwashing, and antiseptic stations at the bedside and room entry points (Boyce, 1999). Hospital administrators must create an organizational atmosphere in which adherence to recommended HH practices are considered an integral part of providing high-quality care (Boyce, 1999). Improvement in infection control

This assignment shall be identifying the evidence underpinning the skills and professional approach required in patient care. Hand hygiene is seen as a form of action that is done by using your hands to prevent the spread of harmful germs and infections, this action is performed by both healthcare workers (HCWs) and patients before assisting with personal care involving touching. There are many different types of hand hygiene actions taken in the UK, these include Surgical Antisepsis, wearing gloves, washing your hands with a soap or alcohol-based formulation hand wash. It is important to always remain protected when touching a patient, their surroundings or body fluid.

One the main roles healthcare workers (HCWs) can do is to provide patients with a safe environment whilst they are in the healthcare setting. In providing clinical safety to patients HCWs are ensuring that the patient will be safe from preventable adverse events occurring to them whilst they are in the hospital setting. Patient safety should be a of high priority to the healthcare setting and HCWs. Nursing staff are the main providers of care to patients whilst in the healthcare setting and have many responsibilities in delivering safe patient care. Whilst in the healthcare setting patients are vulnerable and at the hand of healthcare workers, thus it is extremely important for healthcare workers to maintain hand hygiene. To maintain a

As outlined in Crow et al (8) following the standard precautions in wound management is essential to protecting the patient and health care provider from contamination of microbes. Microbes are essentially everywhere, on the body and in the environment (8). They are often found on equipment in the hospitals, long term care facilities, clinical care settings and are easily carried on the hands of health care providers (8). Health care providers are known to be great reservoirs for resistant microbes such as methicillin-resistance S.aureus (MRSA) (8). Lack of understanding and adherence of the standard precautions, i.e. proper hand washing, pose risk for microbes to be transferred from patient to patient and to be introduced into a patient`s wound (11). The susceptibility to infection is also much higher in certain patient populations (immunosuppressed, elderly, nutritional impaired) despite the strength or pathogenicity of the microbes

Patient safety has become a major concern in the healthcare sector because of the prevalence of medical errors. Patient safety has even stood out as its own ideal discipline and it encompasses certain areas of healthcare service provision such as reporting, analysis and prevention of medical errors (because of the upsurge of medical errors across the globe). Initially, medical errors were not considered a big issue in medical circles until there was an increased trend of medical errors across the globe which resulted into adverse medical events and a high number of patient deaths. This trend prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to carry out an assessment of the impact of medical errors across the globe and established that at least 1 in every 10 patient across the globe is normally affected by medical errors (World Health Organization 2008).

Health facility approved clean, freshly laundered surgical attire has been shown to aid in containing the shedding and dispersal of skin cells into the environment. Surgical site infections (SSI) has proven to be a major problem for both the hospital and patient. Because the human body is known to be reservoir for bacterial and other microorganism. The purpose of the surgical attire is to protect the patient and staff by maintaining a limited microbial spread. In order to maintain a clean environment and adhere to OSHA regulations, surgical attire must be

Sterile conditions is important when working in patients rooms or using the instruments when caring for wounds or surgery. The Aseptic technique is used to keep patients free from hospital micro-organisms as much as possible. While working in patients rooms with open wounds make sure that you are using good hygienic practice. Hand washing, the use of PPE, and sterile instruments are a must to reduce the spread of infections. Autoclaving is used to sterilize the instruments, but if they are disposable discard after one use in the proper manner.