HAND HYGIENE; A RESPONSIBILITY OF HEALTH CARE PERSONNELS

Mohammad Osama; Muhammad shafiq Khan

doi:10.46903/gjms/23.2.2025

HAND HYGIENE; A RESPONSIBILITY OF HEALTH CARE PERSONNELS

Mohammad Osama, Muhammad shafiq Khan

Abstract

Hand hygiene is a simple yet highly effective infection control measure in healthcare settings, but adherence among healthcare professionals remains disappointingly low. For almost two decades, World Health Organization (WHO) has been a global leader in promoting and bolstering hand hygiene as an essential preventative step against infectious diseases, especially in hospital settings. Contaminated hands of healthcare professionals transmit infections, including drug-resistant microorganisms. Improving hand hygiene adherence can reduce pathogen transmission by up to 50% and achieving around 60% adherence rate can significantly lower Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs).2 Alarmingly, two-thirds of medical personnel, however, don’t comply with the hand hygiene recommendations due to a variety of reasons, including lack of institutional emphasis, forgetfulness, time restrictions, and understaffing.

Keywords

Hand Hygiene; Bacterial Infections; COVID-19 pandemic; Cross Infection; Community Health Services; Infection Control; World Health Organization.

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References

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.46903/gjms/23.2.2025