As it is currently International Infection Prevention Week (IIPW) I thought I would write a quick post about hand hygiene promotion today – as it ties in with a lot of recent activities I have been involved in alongside tweaking the (almost complete!) PhD dissertation.
In addition to IIPW, earlier this month saw Global Handwashing Day (UK site here) whilst on May the 5th we celebrated SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands, the WHO annual Hand Hygiene awareness day. Each of these carefully planned and well supported events allows the topic of Infection Prevention (and importantly for me, hand hygiene) to be promoted and discussed at perhaps a wider level than during the rest of the year. One of the activities I have been involved in is writing a separate blog on human behaviour, technology and the WHO 5 Moments, which has been a great source of feedback and discussion.
Anyone visiting their local hospitals or health centres during these periods has probably noticed promotional material regarding hand hygiene, or seen information about the activities of the IPCT at that particular location. A few photos from Twitter this week allowed a glimpse at the effort the Countess of Chester Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust IPCT have been putting in to promoting their work (captions their own)….
We’re keeping it clean… reducing MRSA and C.Diff #InfectionPreventionWeek
It’s Infection Control Week, keep your hands clean #InfectionPreventionWeek
By keeping your hands clean, you are helping your local hospital to stay infection free #InfectionPreventionWeek
UHCW IPCT also used Twitter to promote their activities during IIPW. Every Wednesday they #WIPEWednesday – standing for Wash Hands – Isolate promptly – Prudent Antibiotic prescribing – Environmental Cleaning. This week they launched their new #WIPE stickers, and followed a board-to-ward strategy to ensure everyone got the message. Here are just a few of their photos (captions their own):
It’s #WIPEWednesday for #IIPCW today!
What does the W in #WIPE stand for? #WIPEWednesday #AskTheTeam
Our Chief Operating Officer knows what the I is for in #WIPE – he’s got a sticker & a card! #WIPEWednesday #IIPCW
Who knows the P of #WIPE ? Our CEO might be the man to ask? His sticker invites you to! #WIPEWednesday #IIPCW
They have also been doing some great work with the Paediatric teams and Patients, using creative play to produce some beautiful hand hygiene promotional work:
They maybe our smallest patients, but they’re big on getting involved! #IIPC2013 #ptsafety #handhygiene
Finally they also launched their much awaited #HygieneHop video last week….a must see and share for all interested in Infection Prevention and Hand Hygiene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGCPPqGweNQ&sns=tw
Enjoy!!
exploringhandhygiene 