A new world-first national hand hygiene program is being rolled out across Australian hospitals in a bid to halve the rate of antibiotic-resistant ‘superbug’ patient infections.The National Hand Hygiene Initiative is based on groundbreaking Australian research that shows using alcohol-based hand rub is the single most effective intervention in controlling Staphylococcus aureus blood stream infections (SAB), including the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or ‘golden staph’ disease. It is a step-by-step program to improve hand hygiene in hospitals and other health services and to monitor hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers. If healthcare workers use alcohol-based hand rub before and after contact with patients in the prescribed way, the rate of Staphylococcus aureus infections is expected to halve. The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has instigated, and is funding, the Initiative.
The National Hand Hygiene Initiative began in early May, to coincide with the World Health Organization’s Save Lives: Clean your Hands day. The National Hand Hygiene Newsletter can be found here.
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