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Article: The role of skin science in assuring hand hygiene compliance.(Self-study Series)
- Article from:
- Healthcare Purchasing News
- Article date:
- July 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Healthcare Purchasing News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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More than two million patients acquire an infection each year in a healthcare environment. (1) Of those two million healthcare-associated infections (HAI), more than one-third could have been prevented through appropriate hand hygiene programs. The essential components of effective programs are: organized infection control activities run by a trained infection control practitioner; a reasonable practitioner-to-bed ratio; and a system for reporting infection rates to practicing surgeons. Programs with these components have been shown to reduce their hospitals' infection rates by 32%. (2) Imagine how much lower the infection rates could potentially be if hand hygiene ...