CDC’s hand-hygiene rules work for home health
CDC’s hand-hygiene rules work for home health
Hand washing, staff education cut infection rates
Your employees face different challenges than hospital-based personnel face, so they can’t be expected to follow every guideline and process used in a hospital, right? Wrong, say infection control experts interviewed by Hospital Home Health.
Guidelines, that were developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) have been used within acute-care settings for years but they can be used in home care settings with the same effect of reducing infection, says Michele L. Pearson, MD, medical epidemiologist for the CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion in Atlanta.
"The first, most important activity to prevent spread of infection is hand washing," she says. "Home care personnel have been on the leading edge of facing obstacles to hand washing as they’ve faced home situations with no running water or unclean washing areas," Pearson points out.
For that reason, HICPAC’s recently released hand-hygiene guidelines that encourage the use of alcohol-based hand rubs as a way to save time and encourage more frequent hand cleaning are guidelines that home care personnel can easily use in their day-to-day practice, she says.
Alcohol hand rubs big switch for CDC
The endorsement of alcohol-based hand rubs rather than soap and water, in many cases, is quite a departure for the CDC, she admits. "We now have enough research to demonstrate that in most cases a hand rub not only saves nursing personnel time and causes less irritation of the skin, but hand rubs also are readily accessible, so hand hygiene is improved," Pearson says.
Another factor research reviewed by HICPAC confirmed is that hand rubs do decrease bacterial counts enough to reduce the spread of infection, she adds. (For more on hand hygiene, see Hospital Home Health, March 2002, p. 27.)
A good flu and pneumonia immunization program also is important for a home health agency, Pearson says. (See Hospital Home Health, December 2002, p. 136.) Recent changes in Medicare policy related to standing orders may make it easier for home health agencies to implement a program.
Your employees face different challenges than hospital-based personnel face, so they cant be expected to follow every guideline and process used in a hospital, right? Wrong, say infection control experts interviewed by Hospital Home Health.Subscribe Now for Access
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