{"id":46915,"date":"2017-10-19T03:06:53","date_gmt":"2017-10-19T07:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/utnews.utoledo.edu\/?p=46915"},"modified":"2020-10-21T14:16:56","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T18:16:56","slug":"utmc-focuses-on-hand-hygiene-for-infection-prevention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/10_19_2017\/utmc-focuses-on-hand-hygiene-for-infection-prevention","title":{"rendered":"UTMC focuses on hand hygiene for infection prevention"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In recognition of International Infection Prevention Week, The University of Toledo Medical Center is going back to the basics of infection prevention by focusing on proper hand hygiene.<\/p>\n<p>UTMC\u2019s \u201cWash in-Wash out\u201d hand hygiene policy states employees should perform hand hygiene with traditional soap or water, alcohol-based hand sanitizer, or waterless antimicrobial hand gel, spray, wipes or foam before and after they enter a patient room or environment. By doing this, the risk of hospital-inquired infections is significantly reduced. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/10_19_2017\/utmc-focuses-on-hand-hygiene-for-infection-prevention\/web-infection-week-logo-_internationallogo_300dpi-copy\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-46916\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/web-infection-week-logo-_InternationalLogo_300dpi-copy.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"159\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-46916\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/web-infection-week-logo-_InternationalLogo_300dpi-copy.png 540w, https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/web-infection-week-logo-_InternationalLogo_300dpi-copy-300x88.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/a>\u201cPracticing proper hand hygiene is not only the most effective method of preventing the spread of germs, but is the least expensive method to assist with infection prevention efforts,\u201d said Ann Keegan, director of infection prevention and control for UTMC.<\/p>\n<p>The hospital\u2019s current compliance rate is 79 percent, which exceeds the goal of 75 percent. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf everyone holds themselves and their colleagues accountable for proper hand hygiene, we can increase our observed compliance and decrease transmission of infections,\u201d Keegan said. <\/p>\n<p>The World Health Organization recommends these five moments to perform hand hygiene: <\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0Before touching a patient;<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0Before clean\/aseptic procedures; <\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0After body fluid exposure\/risk;<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0After touching a patient; and<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0After touching patient surroundings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKeeping patients safe from infection is everyone\u2019s responsibility,\u201d Keegan said. \u201cBy continuing to practice proper hand hygiene, we promote a safe environment and are decreasing the possibility of spreading infections throughout our facility.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In recognition of International Infection Prevention Week, The University of Toledo Medical Center is going back to the basics of infection prevention by focusing on proper hand hygiene. UTMC\u2019s \u201cWash in-Wash out\u201d hand hygiene policy states employees should perform hand hygiene with traditional soap or water, alcohol-based hand sanitizer, or waterless antimicrobial hand gel, spray, <a href=\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/10_19_2017\/utmc-focuses-on-hand-hygiene-for-infection-prevention\" class=\"more-link\">&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":831,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,63],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46915"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/831"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46915"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47716,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46915\/revisions\/47716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}