Two words that speak volumes

Intensive Care Unit RN Claudia Danyluk, second from left, instructs Brock University nursing students on the correct sterile technique for changing the dressing on a wound.

Good hand hygiene technique

Hands are the most common vehicle to transmit health-care associated organisms. Good hand hygiene is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of many infections and is a necessity for anyone in the hospital environment, particularly for those who come into contact with patients.

Hand hygiene with alcohol-based hand rub – correctly applied – kills organisms in seconds.

Hand hygiene with soap and water – done correctly – removes organisms.

It is important that skin on hands remain intact to reduce the spread of organisms.

To clean hands properly:

• Rub all parts of the hands with an alcoholbased hand rub or soap and running water.
• Pay special attention to fingertips, between fingers, backs of hands and base of the thumbs.
• Keep nails short and clean »» Remove rings and bracelets
• Do not wear artificial nails
• Remove chipped nail polish
• Make sure that sleeves are pushed up and do not get wet
• Clean hands for a minimum of 15 seconds
• Dry hands thoroughly
• Apply lotion to hands frequently

Quality. Safety.

Two words that speak volumes about what every patient depends on when coming through the doors of the Niagara Health System’s seven sites.

Two words that also speak volumes about the hospital’s commitment to care.

“The NHS has many quality and safety initiatives underway to make our hospital programs and services the best they can be,” says Frank Demizio, Vice President Patient Safety. “These initiatives allow us to measure our performance so we can constantly improve everything from wait times for CT scans to infection rates. These initiatives also help to educate the public about the hospital system and provide them with a greater role in their healthcare.”

It is in this spirit of performance measurement, quality enhancement and public education that the NHS welcomes the provincial Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s four new patient safety indicators for hospitals across the province.

“Our hospital strongly supports the provincial government’s new public reporting regime,” says NHS President and CEO Debbie Sevenpifer. “These initiatives are consistent with our organization’s patient safety initiatives, and we believe they will inspire improved performance, enhance patient safety and strengthen the public’s confidence in Ontario’s hospitals.”

The patient safety indicators are Central-Line Associated Blood Stream Infection; Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia; Surgical Site Infection Prevention and Hand Hygiene. These indicators are establishing new standards to increase safety for patients in our hospitals.

The recent baseline data for Hand Hygiene shows that Niagara Health needs to improve on hand washing by its health-care providers. In the next month, there will be an increased focus on hand hygiene initiatives, which will include more staff education and audits on the patient units to measure performance.

“We will be counting on all staff to meet this requirement and will be encouraging them to provide feedback on how to improve hand hygiene at all of our sites,” says Frank.

The four new indicators are posted on the NHS website, along with many other performance measurements, in the Quality and Performance Section at www.niagarahealth.on.ca/quality-and-performance/ and on the Ministry’s website at www.health.gov.on.ca/patient safety/public/ps pub.html.

Niagara Health has been regularly updating its website for some time with new performance indicators, and it will continue to provide as much information as possible to educate the public. Much of this information goes above and beyond the public reporting standards set for hospitals in Ontario.

“The NHS encourages people to get more involved in their healthcare by accessing the Quality and Performance section of our website for key hospital performance measures,” says Debbie. To see hospital rates across the province, go to www.health.gov.on.ca/patient_safety/. and www.oha.com/patientsafetytips.

Another educational tool available to the public is a new consumer website unveiled recently by the Ontario Hospital Association and entitled myhospitalcare.ca. This website gives Ontarians an unprecedented opportunity to learn more about how their local hospitals are performing by location, type of care, indicator, or hospital name. «