Wash Your Hands – Part 1
“Wash your hands!” Most health care providers have heard these simple words repeatedly their entire lives – starting from their mother in childhood and of course at work from infection control colleagues. However, despite the fact that this simple action
decreases nosocomial (i.e., in hospital) infection and constitutes only a fraction of clinical activity in a provider’s day, compliance with hand hygiene is dismal.
In the hospital, the intensive care unit (ICU) is associated with the lowest overall hand-hygiene compliance rates (about 50%) in the hospital, despite the fact that the need for frequent and effective hand hygiene is paramount in a patient population that is critically ill.
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