Sally Furniss
Well-known member
Doctors' handwashing targeted
By REBECCA TODD - The Press
Last updated 05:00 27/10/2009
A hygiene campaign for health professionals begins in Canterbury next month as Australian research shows inadequate handwashing by most doctors.
New research published in the Medical Journal of Australia found nurses were better than doctors and other health workers at handwashing.
A clean hands campaign, run from 2006 to 2007, had resulted in better hand hygiene overall.
However, less than half of doctors (39 per cent) were found to clean their hands after each patient interaction, the report said. This was up from 30 per cent before the campaign.
For nurses, the rate rose from 54.5 per cent to 65 per cent. Allied health workers' handwashing rates increased from 40 per cent to 48 per cent.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has identified handwashing as crucial in reducing the spread of infections within hospitals.
Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) clinical nurse specialist infection control Julianne Toop said New Zealand had signed up to the WHO patient-safety initiative.
New Zealand had no data comparable to the Australian study, but international reports showed handwashing rates were "not fantastic" among health workers, she said.
Eight Canterbury nursing staff would begin training next month on the hand hygiene campaign and hospital staff nationwide would be audited for hand hygiene.
New Zealand data should be available within about six months. CDHB hospitals had already introduced sterile gel into most wards, Toop said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/3000565/Doctors-handwashing-targeted
By REBECCA TODD - The Press
Last updated 05:00 27/10/2009
A hygiene campaign for health professionals begins in Canterbury next month as Australian research shows inadequate handwashing by most doctors.
New research published in the Medical Journal of Australia found nurses were better than doctors and other health workers at handwashing.
A clean hands campaign, run from 2006 to 2007, had resulted in better hand hygiene overall.
However, less than half of doctors (39 per cent) were found to clean their hands after each patient interaction, the report said. This was up from 30 per cent before the campaign.
For nurses, the rate rose from 54.5 per cent to 65 per cent. Allied health workers' handwashing rates increased from 40 per cent to 48 per cent.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has identified handwashing as crucial in reducing the spread of infections within hospitals.
Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) clinical nurse specialist infection control Julianne Toop said New Zealand had signed up to the WHO patient-safety initiative.
New Zealand had no data comparable to the Australian study, but international reports showed handwashing rates were "not fantastic" among health workers, she said.
Eight Canterbury nursing staff would begin training next month on the hand hygiene campaign and hospital staff nationwide would be audited for hand hygiene.
New Zealand data should be available within about six months. CDHB hospitals had already introduced sterile gel into most wards, Toop said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/3000565/Doctors-handwashing-targeted