Hand washing policy

[jannrn]

Just want to ask what other policies are. At my hospital it was changed to wash 2 min. with scrub brush before starting work, antibacterial foam (placed all over unit and inside each pt room) before and after entering pt room. washing before and after bathroom, eating, dressing changes, cleaning up messes etc. This was to cut down on those dry cracked hands from washing mult times per day and the foam was less drying and more effective they said. I wonder what the pt think because we are not always stopping at the sink and they don't always know we are still cleaning our hands, just with something at the door! Oh yeah, then before we go home we do another hand washing.

[BSNtobe2009]

I think it would be a good idea to explain the procedure to the patient when they are admitted when they go over the rest of the information.