Another recent new campaign unrolled at my hospital is the measuring of how much handsanitizer and soap is being used on the units, and comparing it with how much somebody somewhere figured out on paper that SHOULD be used, divided by the amt of pts.
We were wondering, is management short on REAL work to do?
So, I had a wonderful inspiration! Every night near the end of my shift I get a towel and saturate it with handsanitizer and proceed to disinfect the unit. After all, germs can be spread via the phone, counters, doorknobs, computer keyboards, etc...
Our unit won the competition, wouldn't you know it! The day nurses even got in on my sceme!
How is this a bad thing, if the objective is improved infection control/handwashing practices, and why would you try and mess it up? That seems incredible petty to me.
I gather they have a problem with infection control if they are looking into this... surveillance audits are part of life in every IC department.
I agree - there may be a nosocomial issue at the facility and that is why they are looking at this. I don't have access to the site (members only) but I believe IHI Institute for Healthcare Improvement: Home advocates soap measurement as an outcomes evaluation tool. If this is what the facility is doing, leadership needs to explain it to staff so that everyone in the department understands the importance. With this in mind, please stop cleaning the department with hand soap .
Hospitals have been monitoring soap/alcohol usage for years, you just may not have heard about it. With statewide reporting, it's part of an action plan to say "our soap usage is up 10% (or whatever)" because nowhere is handhygiene going to be 100% all the time, but if you can say "we're working on it"... Anyhow, some hospital's monitor soap/alcohol and even paper towel usage.
I've been partial to using the individually wrapped cavi-wipes for cleaning counters, phones, computers, and all sorts of other stuff 'cause it kills so many germs including TB, HIV, etc. I figure it's gotta do something to C-diff and MRSA if it's that toxic.
But I would have used the alcohol foam and a paper towel if we didn't have the cavi-wipes. Probably not the soap 'cause that needs a rinse and I may have time to wipe once but not repeatedly.
Their point, actually, was to encourage usage, and monitor that we were properly disinfecting our hands, based on what an office nerd somewhere calculated that we should ber using. We were told that it's part of a national campaign. Are other hospitals doing this?
To answer your question, we're about to start, and I was assigned responsibility for the initiative that the new handwashing recommendations are part of... - lucky me, right? Actually, I'm pretty excited about it, but I am somewhat of a nerd.
Another person posted the link to the IHI website - that is where this initiative is coming from, and it's based on a lot of evidence-based recommendations. The main drivers of the push on handwashing are the increases in MRSA and VRE morbidity and mortality, and the annual costs of treating preventable infections. I have to do "homework" later and pick through all of the information...
Specializes in PICU, Nurse Educator, Clinical Research.
I briefly had the responsibility of infection control at a LTC facility. To prepare for the job, I was sent to an IC certification course. Lack of compliance in hand hygiene is a HUGE problem everywhere, and there are evidence-based surveillance practices in place- including monitoring consumption of hand hygiene products.
I don't think it's silly or a waste of management's time at all. It beats trying to directly observe all staff, all the time, to check for compliance. *that* would be expensive. We also had a big problem at my facility with sharps being thrown in the trash- I was pushing for a way to effectively monitor compliance with OSHA guidelines, state infection control guidelines, and CDC recommendations when I left. There aren't a heck of a lot of ways to monitor that, y'know?
I say kudos to your facility for doing this. Also, the cavi-wipes are much more effective for cleaning equipment and work surfaces than alcohol foam. If your facility is being gung-ho about infection control and don't offer them, I'd suggest it to them.
That is pretty funny to measure hand sanitizer. Must be the latest trend though, they just appointed a foam in foam out committee on my floor, it consists of one RN, one LPN, and two CNA's. The main purpose of the committee is to watch nurses going in and comming out to see if they are sanitizing between pts. I guess points are awarded if you do and deducted if you dont. Its funny that these same people are the ones that complain they are always too busy. I agree that some nurses do not use proper hand washing and sanitizing procedures but shouldnt management be looking and talking to the ones that are not following procedures instead of adding more responsibilites to already busy staff.
But on the other hand, this may cut down on cross contamination from one pt to another. Hope it works.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
it is not a bad thing, just making the observation that this is happening where I am. I wish all our initiatives were about improving quality of patient care.....
My hospital is not... well that I know of at least. Honestly if they did, they probably would start measuring without telling us just to make sure they got an accurate measure.
Our does it about once a year. They put stickers on the bottles and we store them in soiled util for collection instead of throwing them away. Seems downright pointless to me as well.
That is pretty funny to measure hand sanitizer. Must be the latest trend though, they just appointed a foam in foam out committee on my floor, it consists of one RN, one LPN, and two CNA's. The main purpose of the committee is to watch nurses going in and comming out to see if they are sanitizing between pts. I guess points are awarded if you do and deducted if you dont. Its funny that these same people are the ones that complain they are always too busy. I agree that some nurses do not use proper hand washing and sanitizing procedures but shouldnt management be looking and talking to the ones that are not following procedures instead of adding more responsibilites to already busy staff.
But on the other hand, this may cut down on cross contamination from one pt to another. Hope it works.
Yeah, our hospital does this, too. Sometimes they'll post someone in the hall with a clipboard (now that's subtle ), but I wonder how accurate that is. If I'm working with a patient a lot of times I'll wash my hands in the room and if I come out and don't use sanitizer then it looks like I'm not "de-contaminating". I do use the sanitizer a lot, but sometimes it just feels good to get plain soap and water on my hands.
I do love that hand sanitizer and it really makes it easier on me. We have soap in the rooms and sanitizer on the walls in the halls. I use it liberally. But I think it's micromanaging to be counting it. It seems we spend an awful lot of time QAing things. I also think going through sharps containers once a month is strange.
Sometimes it feels like management treats us nurses like we are children who need constant watching, and not professionals. I sanitize my hands because I'm a professional dedicated to good pt care, not to win some childish competition between depts as to who used the most soap and sanitizer.
Specializes in Critical Care, Cardiothoracics, VADs.
It's not a "competition to see who used the most" - or at least, it isn't intended that way if staff participates. It's a way to measure the current usage, so you can see if education initiatives etc increase the usage. It makes perfect sense. It's not management treating nurses like children, it is management trying to adhere to best practices for ALL staff who have patient contact.
It's not a "competition to see who used the most" - or at least, it isn't intended that way if staff participates. It's a way to measure the current usage, so you can see if education initiatives etc increase the usage. It makes perfect sense. It's not management treating nurses like children, it is management trying to adhere to best practices for ALL staff who have patient contact.
Actually, I do believe they are treating nurses like children. If you ask me if I'm using the sanitizer each time I see a new pt and i say I am, then I am. Checking the usage is like me checking to see if my 4 year old's hands are wet when she says she washed them... BTW, now that she's 5 I don't have to check, she tells the truth... for the most part.
However, management must do what JCAHO tells them they must, so i comply.
outcomesfirst, BSN, RN
148 Posts
I agree - there may be a nosocomial issue at the facility and that is why they are looking at this. I don't have access to the site (members only) but I believe IHI Institute for Healthcare Improvement: Home advocates soap measurement as an outcomes evaluation tool. If this is what the facility is doing, leadership needs to explain it to staff so that everyone in the department understands the importance. With this in mind, please stop cleaning the department with hand soap
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