Question

a. Define hand hygiene in your own words and explain 5 moment of hand hygiene

b. List five specific times or situations during the work day when Health care staff members should wash their hands.

Answer 1

a. Define hand hygiene in your own words and explain 5 moment of hand hygiene.

Definition hand hygiene : Hand washing (or handwashing), also known as hand hygiene, is the act of cleaning hands for the purpose of removing soil, dirt, and microorganisms.

The 5 Moments of Hand Hygiene list important moments for a healthcare worker to wash their hands, including:

1. Cleaning hands before touching a patient

Before entering a patient’s room, healthcare workers must wash their hands to remove any potential pathogens that were picked up from previous patients. Even if the healthcare worker does not touch the patient directly, they may encounter a patient’s clothing or personal objects with harmful microorganisms.

2. Cleaning hands before a procedure

From taking vitals to prepping a patient for surgery, healthcare providers must clean their hands to reduce the spread of infection during this critical time. When patients are highly suitable to infection, performing hand hygiene before coming in contact with the patient is essential.

3. Cleaning hands after a procedure or exposure to bodily fluids

To protect both staff and patient, it’s important to wash hands after coming in contact with blood, saliva, tears, urine and other bodily fluids.

4. Cleaning hands after touching a patient directly

After caring for a patient, healthcare workers should wash their hands no matter how much or little contact they had with the patient. Removing microorganisms picked up from one patient reduces the chances of spreading infection to other patients.

5. Cleaning hands after touching a patients surroundings

After touching any of the patient’s immediate surroundings, such as the bed rail, bed linens or IV stand, healthcare providers should wash their hands.

b. List five specific times or situations during the work day when Health care staff members should wash their hands.

There are five critical times during the day where washing hands is applicable to health care staff members:

• Before eating.
• Before and after direct contact with a patient’s intact skin.
• After contact with blood, body fluids or excretions, mucous membrane, non-intact skin, or wound dressings.
• After contact with inanimate objects (e.g., medical equipment) in the patient’s immediate vicinity.
• If hands will be moving from a contaminated-body site to a clean-body site during patient care.
• After glove removal.
• After restroom use.