Question

How does patient safety relate to patient hygiene?

Answer 1

Health-care Associated Infections (HAIs) occur in every health care institution, in every country, both developed and developing, and result in higher rates of morbidity and mortality, prolonged hospital stay, long-term disability, increased resistance of microorganisms to antimicrobials, higher costs for patients, families and health care systems, and preventable deaths.

In 2005 the World Alliance for Patient Safety of the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed the First Global Patient Safety Challenge titled "Clean care is safer care". One of the primary goals of this initiative is the improvement of hand hygiene practices in an effort to prevent infections and promote safety of both patients and professionals.

Hand hygiene is an important indicator of patient safety because good hand hygiene practices can decrease the risk of health care associated infections among the patients.