October 17, 2005 -- Hand Hygiene Seen as Major Health Care Challenge

An advance copy of a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) on improving the safety of health care emphasizes the importance of “hand hygiene” in caring for patients. The report, “Clean Care Is Safer Care,” notes that transmission by contaminated human hands may be a major factor in the spread of diseases such as influenza, and simple measures such as effective hand-washing or –cleansing can reduce the risks to patients. The WHO points out that infections acquired by patients during treatment—known as nosocomial infections—are found in both developed and developing countries and account for between 5 percent and 25 percent of all hospital admissions. After testing in different health care settings in a number of countries, ranging from sophisticated hospitals to isolated clinics, the hand hygiene recommendations will become official WHO policy. A press release announcing the coming report does not specify what hand hygiene methods are being tested, but they are expected to include both washing and the use of anti-bacterial pads and wipes. Recent reports have shown that many doctors and clinicians in the United States do not wash their hands between patients or use other hand hygiene measures.