Good hand hygiene is the single most effective thing we can do to protect our patients’ safety, and I want to remind everyone to be vigilant about how and when you wash your hands.
When we practice exceptional hand hygiene we are keeping the patient at the center of what we’re doing. Our hand hygiene secret shopper tells us that our number one observed failure is not washing our hands before and after using gloves. Not washing after removing gloves can lead to contaminating our own hands, while not washing before putting on gloves can lead to contaminating an entire box of gloves and spread infections. No matter how busy we are, we must protect our patients and our own health by washing our hands.
Remember to wash your hands:
- Every time you enter or leave a patient’s room
- Before and after using gloves
- After touching hospital surfaces
As part of our campaign, you will see new stickers (“Wash. Glove. Wash.”) reminding us to practice good hand hygiene both before and after glove use. Thank you for continuing to protect our patients by washing your hands and practicing good hand hygiene “every patient, every time.”
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