The learning zone – read the latest
Warming up hand hygiene and infection prevention – the power of language
By Claire Kilpatrick “Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly – they’ll go through anything.” Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Numerous studies have focused on health care workers’ knowledge and perceptions of hand hygiene but few have addressed the words we use to influence hand hygiene behaviour. If one were to categorize the nomenclature of hand hygiene
Can patients help prevent infections? The conversation continues
By Jules Storr One of the most persistent and universal challenges to the safety and quality of the care patients receive has been preventing health care-associated infections (HCAIs). These infections not only compromise patient outcomes, experiences and overall safety but also place a significant economic burden on healthcare systems. Among the many elements of multimodal improvement strategies devised to
We need to talk about WASH. Why it’s important to bridge the gap between water, sanitation, waste management and hygiene and AMR prevention.
The reports telling me about the global or the regional status of insufficient, quality water, sanitation and waste management services and hygiene (WASH) measures in healthcare are starting to mount up on my bookcase, let alone the scientific articles. Most of these tell me that WASH is critical to achieving effective infection prevention and control (IPC) programmes and interventions, as well to reduce
It’s almost World Hand Hygiene Day, 5 May 2025. But infection prevention is something more…
When we talk about infection prevention and control (IPC), people assume things like personal protective equipment (PPE) or perhaps hand hygiene. People perceive that it’s about reacting when there is an outbreak to stop an infectious disease – they picture hazmat suits and shipping in of essential resources, often on a temporary basis to deal with the immediate crisis at
Disseminate! Communicate!
It’s almost one year since My 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene The Game was launched. Almost one year since players were invited to embark on a gaming mission to save lives and prevent infections, ultimately aiming to prevent them in real life. When the game was launched, as part of the development team, we put out a clear call to
Happy talk – you’ve got to have a dream
The path to infection prevention and control (IPC) nirvana 2030 is charted by a global vision endorsed by all countries of the world, that by 2030 everyone accessing or providing health care is safe from associated infections. This is the World Health Organization (WHO) vision. Many IPC-related societies also have their own vision or mission and no surprise – they’re