Hand Hygiene

Essay by xorcist316College, UndergraduateA, June 2011

download word file, 11 pages 0.0

Running Header: HAND HYGIENE � PAGE �1� HAND HYGIENE � PAGE �2�

Introduction

According to Marquis and Huston (2009, p.69), "Ethics is described as a system of moral conduct and principles that guide a person's action in regard to right and wrong and in regard to oneself and society at large." For this quality and safety "Workarounds" ethical paper, hand hygiene policy for Mercy General Hospital will be evaluated and how the practice is implemented in the clinical setting.

In conformity with Mercy General Hospital's policy on hand hygiene, (2006, p.2) "hand washing has been recognized as the single most important measure for preventing of healthcare-associated infections." In order to practice ethics and patient safety, health care professionals cannot do workarounds on hand hygiene.

Part 1 (A)

Hand hygiene refers to antiseptic hand wash, antiseptic hand rub, or surgical hand antisepsis (Mercy General Hospital, 2006). Guidelines indicate clinical staff should wash their hands with plain soap or antimicrobial soap and water when: hands are visibly dirty or contaminated with transient microorganisms or with blood or other body fluids, before eating, after using the bathroom, and after caring for patients with clostridium difficile (Mercy General Hospital).

For routinely decontaminating hands that are not visibly soiled the hospital recommends using an alcohol-based rub (Mercy General Hospital, 2006). Indications: Immediately before direct contact with patients, immediately before donning gloves when inserting a central intravascular catheter, immediately before inserting indwelling urinary catheters, peripheral vascular catheters, or other invasive devices, after direct contact with a patient's skin, after contact with body fluids; mucus membranes, non-intact skin, and wound dressings if hands are not visibly soiled. Hand hygiene is also needed when moving from a contaminated body site to a clean body site during patient care, after contact with...