Hands Campaign Research Articles

Hand Hygiene Prevents MRSA Transmission

The discovery that disinfecting hands reduces transmission of pathogens is a cornerstone of modern medicine and a crucial quality parameter in the healthcare system. Improving hand hygiene is obligatory for all institutions. We therefore are at a loss to understand why many parties in Germany have chosen not to participate in the national clean hands campaign, “Aktion saubere Hande.” At University Medical Center Freiburg we have observed that linking hand hygiene with skin protection/skin care, as was implemented in collaboration with the occupational health services and the Department of Dermatology, has yielded enormous improvements. Health care workers’ hands are the crucial tools of the trade where treating patients is concerned—hands have to protect patients, but in turn they have to be protected themselves. Additionally, we switched to colouring- and perfume-free products for hand hygiene, because the colouring and perfume in such preparations do not contribute to a product’s effectiveness or tolerability and may even trigger sensitization. Even if skin problems due to hand hygiene are usually caused by irritant-toxic damage, the risk for contact allergies should also be reduced (2). After the switch we again observed a substantial increase in the use of alcohol-based hand rub in our institution—additionally promoted by a series of measures to improve hand hygiene, such as short training sessions, improved access to dispensers, complemented use of wearable dispensers—for example, for transport services. In a recent study, we have shown that increased use of alcohol-based hand rub helps prevent transmission of nosocomial MRSA (3). In addition to improving the quality of medical treatment and patient safety, we were thus able to reduce the time, money, and effort spent on delivering health care.

Krankenhaushygiene – „AKTION Saubere Hände”: Keine Chance den Krankenhausinfektionen!

About 500,000 healthcare associated infections can be observed each year in Germany, about 20-30 %, that means 100,000 to 150,000 cases, are avoidable. Healthcare associated infections lead to increased mortality and prolongation of stay. The average prolongation of stay are 4 days, therefore about 2 Million additional hospital days can be determined. In other words about 6 hospitals with 1000 beds each are only caring for patients with healthcare associated infections. Experts agree that careful hand disinfection is the most important procedure to avoid transmission of pathogens. Studies demonstrate that an increasing compliance to hand disinfection leads to a reduction of healthcare associated infections. The clean hands campaign is a joint effort of the National Reference Centre for Surveillance of Nosocomial Infections, the German Society for Quality Management in Healthcare and the Patient Safety Campaign has the objective to achieve a significant improvement of hand hygiene.

Singapore: Towards a National Identity

The year 1976 was the 157th since the founding of Singapore and the 11th anniversary of its independence. It also marked the 17th year m power of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP), which assumed the reins of government after winning the May 1959 general elections. More importantly, however, 1976 was a year of many significant happenings on both the domestic and international fronts for the island Republic of Singapore. One of the most important domestic events was the revelation by the PAP Government of the underground communist movement's activities in recruiting members from all walks of life to further the goal of bringing about a united communist Malaya and Singapore. Electoral boundaries were also redrawn, leading to the creation of four new constituencies and speculation on the actual date of the forthcoming general elections. Several national campaigns were conducted during the year to modify the attitudes and behaviour of the local popu lation, the most important of which were the Use Your Hands Campaign, the National Anti-Drug Abuse Campaign (NADAC) and the first National Health Campaign on Infectious Diseases. On the international scene Singapore's partici pation in the first summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) m Bali in late February was followed three months later by Prune Minister Lee Kuan Yew's visit to the People's Republic of China (PRC) and to Australia in mid-October. Singapore also received world-wide attention as a result of the re signation of the PAP from the Socialist International. This background paper on Singapore is not intended to describe all the above events as such a description can already be found in the usual sources such as the daily newspapers or other local publications. Rather, this paper attempts to provide an analytical framework for understanding contemporary politics in postindependent Singapore in general and during 1976 in particular. More specifically, the PAP Government's approach to nation-building in Singapore will be described in terms of its objective and the various strategies employed by it for the attainment of a Singaporean national identity. It is presumed here that the major events of 1976 (or any other recent year) can best be understood and evaluated within such a framework.