This article effectively highlights a crucial but often overlooked aspect of hand hygiene in healthcare settings: the importance of correct dosing of hand sanitizer. While adherence to hand hygiene protocols (like knowing when to clean hands) is essential, understanding how much sanitizer to use is just as critical in preventing infections.
Key takeaways:
1. Proper Dose Size is Critical
- Using too little hand sanitizer (less than 1.5 mL) can leave parts of the hand untreated, increasing the risk of infection spread.
- Too much sanitizer (more than 2 mL) can prolong the drying time, which might discourage proper use.
2. Hand Sanitizers Enhance Adherence
- Hand sanitizers are quick, effective, and often more accessible than traditional handwashing stations, which makes them indispensable in fast-paced healthcare environments.
- They work in 20-30 seconds, compared to the 40-80 seconds needed for handwashing, making them more practical for busy healthcare workers.
3. Linking Dose to Moments of Hand Hygiene
- Adherence isn’t just about frequency but proper technique and dose aligned with key moments, such as before touching a patient or performing clean procedures.
- Correct dosing is especially critical in the first two moments when protecting the patient is the priority.
4. Technology as a Tool for Ensuring Adherence
- Thermal imaging can help visualize whether the sanitizer is covering all necessary surfaces of the hands, making invisible technique gaps visible.
- This can be paired with routine audits to provide real-time feedback and reinforce correct technique.
5. Evidence-Based Product Selection
- When selecting hand hygiene products, infection preventionists (IPs) should look for those that have been validated through in vivo testing, such as EN 1500 or ASTM E2755 standards, to ensure they work effectively in real-world conditions.
6. The Role of Education and Feedback
- Educating healthcare workers on the right volume and application time is essential. Using products that are skin-friendly and non-irritating will improve adherence.
- Regular training and feedback are necessary to ensure that staff are using sanitizers correctly, especially considering the physical demands of healthcare work.
7. Practical Steps for Infection Prevention Leaders
- Demand data from manufacturers about product efficacy and trial it for user acceptability.
- Standardize the dispensing process to ensure the right dose and coverage, using technologies like thermal imaging to ensure compliance.
- Foster a culture of continuous education, auditing, and feedback to ensure hand hygiene is practiced correctly across all moments.
In summary, infection prevention leaders should not only focus on ensuring the when of hand hygiene but also the how much to maximize its effectiveness. By using the right products, providing proper training, and leveraging technology, healthcare workers can better prevent the spread of infections and protect both patients and themselves.
What do you think about using technology like thermal imaging in real-time audits? Does it feel like a feasible solution for improving hand hygiene compliance in your experience?
