Handwashing and Patient Safety
Germs and bacteria exist at home, at work, and in hospitals. All hospitals work hard to prevent you from getting an infection while you are in the hospital. The spread of germs is a possibility in any hospital, and is believed to cause thousands of infections every year.
Two million people each year become ill as a result of a hospital-acquired infection. Proper hand hygiene is critical to the prevention of these infections - which contribute to the death of nearly 90,000 hospital patients per year and $4.5 billion in medical expenses.
What you can do:
Here are some important guidelines
- Expect our staff to clean their hands before providing patient care. It is OK to ask if they have or request that they do so if they forget.
- Encourage visitors to wash hands or use sanitizers before entering and when leaving a patient room.
- Avoid touching anything used for patient care.
- Read and follow any contact information posted outside a patient's door.
- Always cover a sneeze or cough with a tissue or your upper arm.
- For patient safety, please do not visit if you are sick.
- After discharge, help to eliminate germs by using disinfectants to clean surface areas often.
Content courtesy of U. S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
