An article by Jayne O’Connor – Infection Prevention & Control Co-ordinator, Adventist HealthCare

Improving hand hygiene (HH) among healthcare workers is currently the single most effective way to reduce and prevent Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI). Hand Hygiene Australia were commissioned to develop and coordinate a National Hand hygiene initiative, the purpose of which was to improve hand hygiene compliance Australia wide and to monitor its effectiveness on infection rates.

Since 2009 Adventist Healthcare has been committed to participation in the National Hand Hygiene Initiative and to the World Health Organisation (WHO) “Save Lives: Clean your Hands” Program.

Hand hygiene compliance auditing is carried out using direct observation by trained auditors to observe staff behaviour in response to the following 5 moments of hand hygiene:

• Moment 1 – Before touching a patient
• Moment 2 – Before a procedure
• Moment 3 – After a procedure or body fluid exposure risk
• Moment 4 – After touching a patient
• Moment 5 – After touching a patient’s surroundings

This data is submitted regularly to Hand Hygiene Australia and compared country wide. Hand hygiene is kindly sponsored by San Foundation which allows the Infection Prevention & Control department to employ trained gold standard auditors to assist in collecting hand hygiene data.

World hand hygiene day is celebrated on 5th May each year, and at AHCL the day includes competitions, educational displays, and information for staff, patients and visitors. Hand hygiene ambassadors are nominated by their peers each year as someone who stands out as a role model and has good hand hygiene compliance. In celebration of their achievement the ambassadors are invited to an afternoon tea where they receive a certificate of appreciation presented by Barbara Ward, Managing Director, San Foundation and Brett Goods, General Manager, SAH.

At the San Quality Awards Dinner in 2016 the 'Hand Hygiene Award' was presented to the department with the highest hand hygiene compliance across AHCL (SAH, SDSH and DAH).

This year the trophy was won by San Day Surgery Hornsby (pictured above), proudly sponsored by San Foundation.