Hand hygiene ambassadors Rosemary Mastromonaco (left) and Anna MacDonald want you to get caught in the act of cleaning your hands.
No one expects to acquire an infection as an outcome of care. Our patients and families expect our collective diligence in providing the best care. Our fellow staff and physicians expect to deliver that care in a safe and healthy environment. And, really, should any of us expect any less from each other? Of course not — and we’re proud to tell the world that, too.
Hand hygiene ambassadors Micheline Gautheir (left) and Monica McAlduff at VGH JPP main entrance.
During World Hand Hygiene Week, starting May 5, anyone entering or leaving VGH, the Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Centre, UBC Hospital, GF Strong, or the Mary Pack Arthritis Centre during the early morning hours of 7:00 to 8:00 am received a warm greeting from our hand hygiene ambassadors.
Representing a mix of administration departments and clinical programs across Vancouver Acute, our ambassadors offered hand sanitizer to all in the effort to spread the word about the importance of hand hygiene — and stop the spread of bacteria and viruses. An interactive display at the NAOSH Week event at VGH, and an information table in support of Nurses’ Week, also at VGH, supplemented our ambassadors’ good will.
The cost of poor hand hygiene
Angela Karpa, hand hygiene ambassador, at the Diamond Centre.
As health care employees, we know that bacteria and viruses can live for hours on our hands, and that the
contaminated hands of health care workers are linked to health care-associated infection outbreaks (HAIs) like MRSA, C. difficile, and norovirus. In fact, one-third of all HAIs are preventable by appropriate hand hygiene.
The cost of HAIs to our health care system is daunting, too. Each HAI costs an additional $10,000 to $24,000 in care. But that can’t compare to the suffering experienced by patients and families. In Canada, HAIs affect more than 220,000 people every year, and kill 8,000 to 12,000 people needlessly.
Sometimes those who fall ill are our loved ones, as Lisa Harris shares in her story about how C. difficile hurt her parents in Ontario.
Get caught in the act
At VCH, we monitor our hand hygiene compliance and share this information with the public as a measure on our public Report Card. Our target is 85%, but we can do better — and we’re working on a plan to do just that.
Hand hygiene ambassadors Suk Ko (left) and Corrina Hayden.
At Vancouver Acute Services, we’re refreshing our efforts to improve our hand hygiene rates. One activity will focus on public recognition of healthcare workers and support staff who get “caught in the act” of washing their hands.
Together, we can provide the best care for our patients and avoid needless cost to the system by decreasing our HAI rates. Please stay tuned for more on our “Caught in the Act” plan.
Thank you for cleaning your hands!