Educating and Advocating for the Prevention, Treatments, Clinical Trials, Environmental Safety of Clostridioides difficile (C. diff. CDI C. difficile) Infections Worldwide
Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap.
Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Be sure to lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice.
Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.
Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them, and use a paper towel to turn off the faucet, and then throw it away.
How do I clean my hands without soap or water? If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can quickly reduce the number of germs on hands in some situations, but sanitizers do not eliminate all types of germs.
Apply the product to the palm of one hand.
Rub your hands together.
Rub the product over all surfaces of your hands and fingers until your until your hands are dry.
Take a minute and enjoy the brief informational hand-washing video
We are pleased to welcome Teena Chopra, MD, MPH, Clinician Educator as a Member of the C Diff Foundation, Co.-Director of the Junior Infection Fighter Program – Infection Prevention Education.
Dr. Chopra is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, at Wayne State University and the Corporate Medical Director of Hospital Epidemiology, Infection Prevention and Antibiotic Stewardship at Detroit Medical Center, Wayne State University. Her research interests include Epidemiology of Healthcare-associated Infections, Infection Prevention Antibiotic Stewardship and Immunization.
Dr. Chopra has published over 70 papers in various journals and book chapters. Additionally she has independently reviewed over 50 journal articles, and has a special interest in studying the epidemiology of infections, including Clostridium difficile and Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms.
Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap.
Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Be sure to lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice.
Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.
Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them, and use a paper towel to turn off the faucet, and then throw it away.
How do I clean my hands without soap or water? If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can quickly reduce the number of germs on hands in some situations, but sanitizers do not eliminate all types of germs.
Apply the product to the palm of one hand.
Rub your hands together.
Rub the product over all surfaces of your hands and fingers until your until your hands are dry.
Take a minute and enjoy the brief informational hand-washing video
“Clean care for all – it’s in your hands” — this year’s slogan
SAVE LIVES: Clean YOUR Hands global annual campaign kicks off on May 5th.
As the World Health Organization shared in their newsletter; “Being “campaign active” is an important part of improving hand hygiene and Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) in health care.”
“Health facilities should always be places of healing. No one should get sick while seeking care. Achieving universal health coverage means quality care for everyone, everywhere. And quality care is clean care. We all have a part to play; hand hygiene is one of the most basic elements of infection prevention and control.” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, advocacy video (https://youtu.be/nw9TMfqc3cE).
Visit the WHO website to gain access to the resources available and being “campaign active” to share the high levels of the importance of this life-saving intervention across the globe.
Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) – GARDP is a non-profit research and development organization initiated by WHO and the Drugs for Neglected Disease initiative, that addresses global public health needs by developing and delivering new or improved antibiotic treatments, while endeavouring to ensure their sustainable access. GARDP recently launched the COHERENCE (COmbination tHERapy to treat sepsis due to carbapenem-resistant Gram negative bacteria in adult and paediatric population: EvideNCE and common practice) project. As a first activity, COHERENCE launched a survey assessing the prescription habits and attitudes of clinicians who normally deal with the treatment of carbapenem-resistant Gram negative bacteria in adult and paediatric populations worldwide. Please promote the survey and participate here (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GARDP-COHERENCE)! By completing the survey, you will have a chance to win a complimentary registration for the 2020 ECCMID Congress in Paris.
Hand-Washing aka hand hygiene Remains #1 In Infection Prevention In Every Setting.
“Despite evidence to suggest that [hand hygiene] is important in preventing infection, hospitalized patients are often not provided the opportunity to clean their hands,” due to mobility and cognitive obstacles as well as lack of education, investigators wrote.
Education on patient hand hygiene significantly reduced the incidence of Clostridium difficile infection at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Mercy Hospital.
First, they conducted baseline surveys to assess patient hand hygiene, which showed patients needed more opportunities to wash their hands. Then nurse educators provided staff with an educational presentation on the importance of patient hand hygiene for preventing infection, which included specific times they should encourage and assist patients with hand hygiene. Staff then provided education and assistance to newly admitted patients, and researchers conducted additional surveys after implementation of this intervention.
During the first phase of the study involving just four medical-surgical nursing units, patient hand hygiene education increased significantly after the intervention (P < .0001). Overall, 97 follow-up surveys showed the proportion of those who received hand hygiene education increased from 34% to 64%, the opportunities provided for hand hygiene increased from 60% to 86%, and the average number of times hand hygiene was performed daily increased from 2.7 to 3.75.
After expanding the intervention to the whole hospital in the second phase of the study, 189 follow-up surveys showed that patient hand hygiene education increased from 48% to 53%. Meanwhile, overall opportunities for hand hygiene remained unchanged from 68%, and daily frequency of patient hand hygiene did not change significantly (mean, 2.4 vs. 2.6 times per day).
Notably, CDI rates dropped significantly during the 6 months following hospital-wide implementation.
“[Standardized infection ratio] P values for Q2 and W3 (0.0157 and 0.0103, respectively) were significantly lower than expected (P .05),” investigators wrote. “The Q4 SIR, however, showed an increase to 0.3844 over the 2 preceding quarters.”
They concluded that these findings showed patient hand hygiene “should be considered a potential addition to CDI prevention measures in hospitalized patients.” – by Adam Leitenberger
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