Hand-washing practices urged for professionals

Health experts here are calling for medical professionals to pay more attention to hand hygiene, after firsthand observations showed many do not wash their hands throughout the day.

The latest research by the health department reported a low rate of hand washing compliance among the country's hospitals, in that nearly 50 percent of health workers fail to wash their hands during their daily work. In some Western countries, the rate of compliance with hand hygiene rules is more than 90 percent.

"More than 90 percent of medical practices are carried out by the hands of medical staff. So ensuring those health workers follow hygiene rules like hand washing is key to stopping bacteria from spreading," said Hu Bijie, director of the division of pulmonary infection at the Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital and of the Institute of Respiratory Diseases of China.

"But our study found that health professionals fail to take into account this risk. Such inadequate hand hygiene practices will increase the risk of hospital-acquired infection by 20 to 30 percent, " Hu said on Thursday at a seminar on public health sponsored by Tork hygiene products.

Previous statistics by the Ministry of Health showed every year about four million patients suffer from hospital infection, which caused direct losses of about 16 billion to 24 billion yuan ($2.35 -3.53 billion) a year.

In 2009, the Ministry of Health issued the standard for hand hygiene for healthcare workers in a healthcare setting, which formulates the standards and processes of hand washing, antiseptic hand-rubbing and surgical hand antisepsis.

"Despite the standard, we still found that some hospital staff do not pay sufficient attention to hand hygiene, though they know it is a priority to reduce the hospital infection rates. Some staff neglect the importance of hand washing because they are so busy at work," Hu said.

In addition, the lack of safe hygiene facilities in hospitals also contributes to poor hand hygiene as tap water is still widely used in many hospitals.

"During our observation and research in a Shanghai hospital, we saw many medical staffers not washing their hands correctly, and they dried their hands with towels, which may bring a second contamination," said Stephan Dyckerhoff, who is also the president of North Asia at SCA Hygiene Products.

"Through our experiment in the hospital, which lasted more than one year, more than 50 percent of medical staff said their hygiene situation has improved significantly after provided with hygiene facilities and education," he said.

Currently, Shanghai Health Education Institute is planning to launch a new public campaign to improve health professionals' hygiene awareness.

Source: China Daily