Nurses 'must be role models' for good hand hygiene | nursing times

Nurses have reflected on the “critical importance” of good hand hygiene for safe and effective nursing care and have recognised the need to lead the way in this practice and stamp out

unnecessary glove use, as part of this year’s World Hand Hygiene Day. To mark the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual awareness day, _Nursing Times_ has spoken to those among the

profession and within infection prevention and control (IPC) about the role they must play in adopting and advocating good hand hygiene. > “We need all nurses, including nurse leaders, to

 trust in hand > hygiene and to demonstrate that trust” >  > Jules Storr The WHO’s theme for 2022 focusses on the need for a “healthcare quality and safety climate or culture that

values hand hygiene and IPC” and carries the slogan: “Unite for safety: clean your hands”. A nurse by background and former Infection Prevention Society president, Jules Storr, welcomed the

WHO’s campaign and said: “I love the theme of this year’s campaign – the culture around safety and quality and of course infection prevention and control, is everything. “Who can argue with

a global campaign that’s aiming for unity and solidarity around hand hygiene?” The WHO’s campaign webpage also encourages health professionals to think about a “hand hygiene word of the

day”. Ms Storr said hers was “trust”. “We need all nurses, including nurse leaders, to trust in hand hygiene and to demonstrate that trust,” she told _Nursing Times_. Jules Storr “It keeps

people, both health workers and patients, safe from those germs that are spread by hands.” A common concern among those interviewed by _Nursing Times_ was an overreliance on gloves which in

some cases were being incorrectly used instead of hand washing. “What’s evident in many centres especially in high income countries is the almost universal use of gloves instead of, and not

even alongside of, hand hygiene at the right moment,” explained Ms Storr. “This is where nurse leaders and role models or champions… can be the shining light that results in peers and

juniors mirroring their exemplary behaviour. “A culture that 'gets' hand hygiene would see the use of gloves preserved for a small number of very specific tasks and would trust in

hand hygiene as one of the fundamental practices that stop the spread of germs.” > “Good hand hygiene is of critical importance in safe and effective > nursing care" >  > 

Crystal Oldman Data from the Department of Health and Social Care suggests 12.7 billion gloves were distributed to the NHS and social care sectors in England in the two years between 25

February 2020 to 31 March 2022. In 2019, 1.7 billion were sent for use. The Infection Prevention Society’s current president, Professor Jennie Wilson, noted how the pandemic had reinforced

“how important hands are in transmitting healthcare associated infections”. There had been “many reports of increases in healthcare-associated blood stream infections linked to a lack of

hand hygiene, exacerbated by prolonged use of gloves which are not changed between tasks or patients”, she added. “This practice is unsafe, goes against all the principles of good hand

hygiene and puts patents at risk,” said Professor Wilson. Crystal Oldman “Hand hygiene, which can be performed rapidly with alcohol gel, remains the easiest and most effective method of

preventing the transmission of infection and protects both patients and staff.” Also speaking to _Nursing Times_, Dr Crystal Oldman, chief executive of the Queen’s Nursing Institute, added:

“Good hand hygiene is of critical importance in safe and effective nursing care. “Registered nurses in the community and social care – and their teams – are leaders and role models in good

hand hygiene as a part of infection prevention and control measures.” She pointed towards the QNI’s recently launched IPC Champions Network which she said held “regular meetings and aims to

disseminate and support best practice in this key area”. At a local level, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust is running a campaign that warns staff against 'splashing and

dashing' when it comes to cleaning their hands. Speaking to _Nursing Times_, the trust's head of nursing for IPC, Jo Shackleton, highlighted the “enormous amount of work nurses

have done in promoting hand hygiene during the pandemic to prevent the transmission of Covid-19”. Jo Shackleton She agreed the pandemic had reinforced hand hygiene as “an essential skill in

nursing and one of the most effective methods to prevent infections”. “Still, it’s easy to miss opportunities to clean our hands if we are busy and perhaps think it doesn’t matter this

once,” Ms Shackleton added. “So, World Hand Hygiene Day is a timely reminder to us all to not ‘splash and dash’ whether you’re using soap and water or alcohol-based hand rub, but always

clean your hands properly.” World Hand Hygiene Day falls in the middle of the Royal College of Nursing’s annual Glove Awareness Week, which highlights how safely reducing glove use can

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