National Infection Control Week 2023: A chance to raise awareness of hand hygiene best practice

This 16^th – 20^th October sees the healthcare community come together to mark National Infection Control Week. After the past three years, where infection control has been high on the agenda, it remains crucial to maintain best practice and keep raising awareness so that we can all help to prevent infections in facilities.

Best practice in healthcare

In healthcare facilities, we know we must all work together to help maintain the highest standards of hand hygiene in GP surgeries, dental practices, opticians, pharmacies and beyond. Best practice should go beyond you, as the healthcare professional or facility manager, and extend to helping your visitors and patients too.

The highest standards of infection prevention and hand hygiene shouldn’t just be applied to hospitals and acute care settings; National Infection Control Week is a chance to help raise awareness of best practice and create a united approach to hand hygiene. You can find a range of free resources on our website here, which can be displayed around your facility to act as reminders and prompts for the key moments when hand hygiene is vital.

Hand hygiene mythbusting

One of the primary modes of infection transmission is via the hands[1]. It is therefore important to understand that they are recognized as one of the first lines of defense when it comes to infection prevention.

However, after the intensity of communication around hand hygiene over the past three years, it can be hard to separate fact from fiction when it comes to hand washing and sanitizing. Our Global RD&E Director Dr John Hines outlines some of his key mythbusters below:

• “We're often asked if people should use hand sanitizer after washing hands with soap and water. I would say as a general rule, no - if your hands are visibly soiled, then washing with soap and water will provide very adequate hygiene protection.”
• “Alcohol based hand sanitizers work through an instant germ kill effect and they don't have any residual effect. So it's really important to sanitize your hands at each of the key moments where the risk of transmission of germs is high.”
• “Always use gloves in accordance with your healthcare system guidelines, always dispose of them correctly, and always remember to sanitize your hands at each key moment of risk of transmission of germs. Gloves should never be worn across multiple moments of risk, or between patients.”

Our product recommendations

In busy community care environments, we know that you need to be able to rely on the hand hygiene products and systems in your facility, to ensure that they are effective, but also liked by your staff and patients.

Our essential products for healthcare settings are trusted to work and have been tested to high standards. You can be sure that our Healthcare Hand Hygiene Program will be tailored to the requirements of your healthcare setting; the right products will be made available when and where you and your staff need it, to help improve hand hygiene compliance and skin care practice.

Our product range has been developed to match three key steps of a hand hygiene Program: washing, sanitizing, and moisturizing. These steps help reduce the risk of spread of germs and maintain good skin health. To meet your needs, our Microsan® healthcare products are formulated especially for high frequency use environments.

The 3 Step range includes:

• Washing – a range of effective foam and lotion hand wash products are available in both perfumed and perfume-free formats suitable for frequent use.
• Sanitizing – our complete range of sanitizers meet all your needs with a highly effective formula that kills up to 99.9% of bacteria and is effective against all enveloped viruses and some (norovirus and rotavirus) but not all non-enveloped viruses. Our Microsan® Foaming Alcohol Handrub rapidly and easily rubs across hands, and features broad-spectrum activity with a non-drying formula ideal for healthcare settings.
• Moisturizing – the use of moisturizing creams is crucial when it comes to nourishing and conditioning the hands. Our creams help maintain good skin condition and are available for normal right through to sensitive skin types.

You can find out more about our product ranges and Healthcare Program here