Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs) are not a new term in the medical industry. Most related to the field would tell you of the problems of unhygienic practices, or more commonly, since hygiene is one of the primary factors at any healthcare institutions, neglect of these practices that might lead to unhygienic conditions. These conditions could emanate from people or equipment, specifically portable medical equipment. But what they fail to recognise is the magnitude of the problem
What happens when the single person in charge of cleaning medical equipment ceases to do so, or properly? Neglect of simple factors such as proper hand sanitization at suitable intervals or a dirty computer on wheels that goes in and out of patient rooms then can have shocking consequences. Mobile medical equipment is touched by hundreds, if not thousands, of hands every day.
From patient and environment, to vectors such as portable medical equipment, ultimately to another patient, the potential for possible transmission and contamination is high in healthcare institutions. Numerous researches have been conducted on these topics, and the need for higher disinfection care is evident from them.
So, how do you go about doing this? Here are a 3 things you need to do to create a truly hygienic environment:
- Broaden your focus
Most hospitals and other institutions typically focus primarily on surfaces in patient rooms, leaving other equipment unattended. Equipment like medication carts, vital signs equipment, wheel chairs, electrocardiogram machines, etc. can also be a source of pathogen transmission. Care, therefore, should be taken that equipment are cleared by the nursing or ancillary staff after each patient use.
Along with Portable Medical Equipment (PME), nosocomial (disease originating in a hospital) infections associated with technical installations must also be considered, after studying their potency of damage. All infrastructural installations like air-condition ventilators must be reviewed qualitatively to maintain them according to given parameters.
Equipment alone is not enough; the entire institution must be kept as a point of focus. It’s all about having a forest view instead of a tree view
2. Sensitize your staff
In his famous article titled ‘8 steps why transformation efforts fail’, John P. Kotter cites the lack of wanting to change as the number one and the biggest hurdle why company transformation efforts fail. When people do not feel the need for change, they do not change.
The same reasoning can be extracted and applied in this scenario. Nursing and other concerned staff might not consider these mundane tasks important. It is up to the management to make use of available research and case study results, as well as apply relevant training programmes and methods to demonstrate the importance of this task and ensure complete incorporation of these practice in the hospital culture.
One such training method is the fluorescent marking method. High-touch equipment are marked with invisible ink to determine whether these points-of-contacts were being cleaned or not. Accordingly, staff is informed of the level of their cleaning practices, with the erosion of invisible ink stains being an indication that the equipment have been cleaned properly. This method, though not optimized, is low in materials cost and time investment. Healthcare institutions must find out other such methods and implement the most suitable of them at their workplace
3. Develop guidelines
Policies must be framed to ensure that staff understand that these tasks are part of their core duties to the institution and, by extension, their commitment towards the patients. These policies must govern the selection of cleaning products including review of current cleaning agents/disinfectants used within the institution; instructions on when to use various agents and their methods of application; monitoring the adequacy of cleaning practices and provision of real-time feedback to the staff
Conclusion
This article started with justifications of why hygiene is a very important factor to be considered in delivering quality healthcare. Having validated this, it moved on to 3 things needed to be done to create a truly hygienic environment:
Point 1 discussed about having a bird’s eye view of the art of hygiene which necessitates thinking through the entire hygiene process and close any gaps you find therein. Point 2 spoke about imparting relevant skill-sets and mind-sets through training programmes to sensitize the staff to make them realize the importance and need of their work, and how to do it, once they are convinced of the need thereof. Point 3 related to development of coded policies to provide the best-practice framework, covering aspects like materials used and employee feedback.
From patient monitors to dialysis equipment, it is important to realize the risks of not disinfecting equipment regularly. Every individual carries the risk of spreading pathogens, bacteria and other harmful organisms that could potentially carry illnesses and spread among patients. It is high time healthcare institutions started treating this as a matter of priority to provide ultimate patient care and nurture.
HealthcareSolutions 