Hand Washing Research Paper

For central line-associated bloodstream infection, some of the evidenced based preventative measures include: a) hand washing, b) use of maximal barriers protection during catheter insertion, c) the use of chlorhexidine for skin preparation d) removal of catheter when no longer necessary, and e) wipe catheter access ports with alcohol when in use for injection or aspiration (National Guideline Clearinghouse, 2012). Joint Commission and other accredited hospital agencies are working their best to prevent healthcare-associated infections. Poor compliance with infection prevention practices among healthcare workers are common, but it is important that the nurses comply with these practices. Patient safety is the number one goal and we as nurses should keep this in mind when giving care to

Through the learning from week 1 and week 2, I have learnt that the most frequent adverse event in health-care delivery is health care-associated infections. It is essential for us to follow the infection control practices that both patients and us are at a risk of being infected. Standard Precautions involve the use of safe work practices and protective barriers, for example, the use of personal protective equipment(PPE). At first, I think Standard Precautions are very easy. Everyone knows PPE can protect us from infections and hand hygiene is important throughout the process.

A work environment requires more consideration for those around you and how your actions impact their health and wellbeing. It is astonishing to realise how quickly germs can spread through basic hygiene neglect. Poor hygiene can contribute towards many health-related problems. We have already explored how infection control can reduce these risks but it is always worth reminding yourself of these.

7 / D.P7: Explain how different procedures maintain health and safety in a selected health or social care setting Maintaining health and safety in health and social care is extremely important to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of all their service users as well as other individuals service providers may come in contact with in the setting. There are several procedures that help to maintain this health and safety however they can all vary between settings for example, health and safety procedures will be slightly different and more focused on certain areas in hospitals and especially in paediatric ward compared to in drop-in centres where the needs and risk to service users are slightly different. Some of the procedures used in health and social care to maintain health and safety include; infection control and prevention, safe moving and handling of equipment and individuals, food preparation and storage, storage and administration of medication and storage and disposal of hazardous substances.

If you don’t wash your hand you don’t know what kind of bacteria got in your hands. You can eventually die if you get a bad bacteria. That was one reason why many colonist

I’ve never had to think about chemistry being connected to our society, but almost everything is chemistry related; for example, the soaps we use to wash our hands are made up of potassium salts of fatty acids. The process to make soap is called saponification, which involves heating fats and oils and reacting them with a liquid alkali. When the alkali is sodium hydroxide, hard soap is formed “bar soap” and when the alkali is potassium hydroxide, a potassium soap is formed “liquid soap”. A question I have about soap is... If the effectiveness of soap is reduced when used in hard water, why is it that many health care settings have hard water?

Department of Health and Human Services established an objective for Healthy People 2020 to prevent HCAIs, this reflects that the U.S. health care system is committed to and serious about solving this issue. These objectives address two extremely important topics, central line-associated bloodstream infections, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections. Also, there are other major causes of HCAIs that Health and Human Services is working on their prevention such as urinary tract infections (UTIs) associated with catheters, infections of surgical wounds and sites, C. difficile infections, and ventilator-associated Pneumonia. Researches done on HCAIs shown that we can prevent many of these infections by implementing effective strategies to eradicate it, adapting some advanced prevention tools, and following new prevention approaches. There should be a more focus on HCAIs prevention in acute care settings.

• Washing hands – All services should have policies and procedures implemented within their program to encourage good hygiene such as washing hands, educators should role model these practises and teach the children when it’s appropriate to wash their hands, such as after they have been to the toilet, before and after meal times, and if they are sick to prevent the spread of infection through droplets in the air. Also educators need to be washing their hands before and after administering medication and changing children’s nappies, wiping snotty noses, dealing with bodily fluids and also wearing gloves as a barrier to prevent infection spreading. (Canberra, 2012) • Cleaning – All toys, surfaces and equipment in the service should be regularly cleaned and disinfected with warm soapy water, this helps prevent the spread of germs as depending on the age of the children they often go through stages of putting things in their mouths, and by cleaning floors and surfaces will help to keep dust and general dirt and grime to a minimum and also prevent the spread of infections. •

Hand washing or isolation of the sick persons with infections in the prevention of hospital acquired infections. 5. Does the use of hand washing, and antisepsis lower the rate of hospital acquired infections? The fifth PICOT question is selected because of the reported low compliance percentage among medical caregivers.

Rhetorical Analysis Rhetoric Analysis 1 “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver is a poem about letting things go and appreciating just how simple and beautiful life is. Oliver claims that “You do not have to be good…” and that you only have to “love what [you] love…” meaning that as human being one should enjoy life and live it how he or she sees fit. Oliver continues her poem by convincing the reader that life should not be taken too seriously. By re-using the word, “meanwhile…”Oliver let’s the reader know that not only their life is going on at a particular time, but also other’s lives are shifting through time as well.

The primary prevention is the best way to eliminate the potential for exposure. Since hand washing is the most effective mean of spread of infection, it would be my primary goal to increase the compliance of hand hygiene among healthcare workers, but also an extensive education of patients and family members on hand washing before and after touching the patient as well as afar any contact with any potentially contaminated materials (surface, body fluids or respiratory secretions). Mandatory education of patients, visitors and healthcare workers, across the system as well as cross department compliance practices are single best mean of preventing the spread of infection. For example, every patient and family member can be educated about hand hygiene, use of PPE-personal protective equipment (face mask, gowns and gloves). Although, the practices are already being utilized, I believe the compliance is poorly monitored.

Staphylococcus epidermidis is the organism that was identified based on the tests that I had conducted. The tests that I used to identify this organism were the coagulase test and the catalase test. My bacterium was beta hemolytic as well. First, a gram stain had to be done to determine whether the organism was a gram positive organism or a gram negative organism. This determined which set of tests that had to be done.

Employees working in pediatrics hospital are supposed to take precautions to protect their patients and staff from exposure to potentially infectious materials. A fundamental component of standard infection prevention measures are a system of barrier precautions to be used by all personnel

The problem is it really is a big deal that they are not washing their hands because they are facilitating the spread of infectious

The main reasons for developing a HCAI are poor hand hygiene by healthcare staff, medical device related infections such as intravenous lines and urinary catheters and the overuse or improper use antimicrobials. Hand hygiene is the cornerstone measure to prevent healthcare associated infection (HCAI) and it has been shown that MRSA is primarily transmitted from patient to patient via the hands of healthcare professionals (Donskey, 2009). Although hand hygiene is the simplest, most effective and most cost effective way to prevent the spread of HCAIs (Pratt et al. 2007) (Kilpatrick et al. 2013), adherence to hand hygiene among health care professionals remains low worldwide (WHO, 2009).