The problem of retained surgical materials after surgery can have severe consequences both for patients and entire medical teams. Evidence-based policies and close monitoring, along with a seamless and clear communication, are essential to enhance patient safety.
Do good and talk about it: In her “Hygiene Communication Concept”, Claudia James, hygiene-specialist and Senior Expert Marketing at Knieler & Team GmbH, explains how communication can improve hand hygiene compliance of physicians and nursing staff. By voicing hand disinfection staff shapes own hygiene behaviour and at the same time gives patients valuable insights into possibilities to participate in their own healing process. In our interview, the expert describes the background to her findings and gives specific instructions for putting these into practice.
Professor Didier Pittet serves as the director of the Infection Control Programme at the University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine. He was also the lead adviser of World Health Organization’s First Global Patient Safety Challenge: Clean Care is Safer Care.
Impaired immune defences, invasive procedures and low compliance to infection prevention measures favour the transmission of pathogens in intensive care units (ICUs). The implementation of surveillance systems helps in identifying possible problems and developing solutions for improving hygiene practice in ICUs.
Few people have recognised the medical necessity of hand hygiene the way Professor Didier Pittet has for more than a quarter-century. Pittet serves as the director of the Infection Control Programme at the University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine and World Health Organization (WHO Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety); in addition, he is the lead adviser of the WHO’s First Global Patient Safety Challenge: Clean Care is Safer Care. As a global authority in role of healthcare-associated infections (HAI), he gives us an overview of how hand hygiene makes a life-saving difference.
Every year, noroviruses pose considerable challenges to the staff of medical and long-term care facilities, particularly in the months from October to April. Statistics from reporting systems show that children under the age of five and adults over the age of 70 are the most affected. Olaf Stolz is a freelance hygiene specialist and advises care facilities and nursing homes, among others, on hygiene issues. We spoke with him about difficulties as well as solutions when dealing with noroviruses in nursing homes.
Hand hygiene and surface disinfection are effective measures for reducing or preventing nosocomial infections and outbreaks. These practices could also reduce the use of antibiotics, which is why many players are driving innovation in the area of surface disinfectants and hand disinfection products. Few people have a deeper understanding of the sector than Dr Roland Knieler, Managing Director of Knieler & Team. Here, the chemist and disinfectant expert discusses recent innovations in the area of disinfection, and how compliance in medicine can be improved.
Hand hygiene is widely recognised as the single most effective means of reducing healthcare-associated infections (HAI), such as surgical site infections. Implementing standardised hand disinfection processes in healthcare facilities and maintaining high compliance among healthcare professionals are needed to protect staff and patients from infections.
