Bermuda Hospitals Board Staff Join Global Drive For Better Hand Hygiene and Improved Patient Safety

Bermuda Hospitals Board today joins in a major global effort to improve hand hygiene in health care, led by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands global campaign aims to get the message across that good hand hygiene reduces health care-associated infection and improves patient safety. At Bermuda Hospitals Board, staff members from across the organisation were invited to ‘Sign Up to Good Hand Hygiene’ and show their commitment by signing a giant hand in the KEMH lobby. Hand hygiene signs and a pilot floor sign are also being put up around the hospitals.

Judy Richards, Chief of Nursing, Quality & Risk comments: “We need to improve and sustain the efforts to improve patient safety through the most basic but also the most important action – cleaning your hands. We are joining with over 40 countries as part of the WHO SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands global effort to raise awareness and drive change. While the campaign focuses on healthcare workers, we need everyone who comes into the hospital to be aware that the wellbeing and health of our patients is literally in their hands too. For example, how many people you know do you bump into when you visit someone in the hospital? Think about how hands you shake and surfaces you touch even before you see your loved one. With MRSA endemic in most communities around the world, including Bermuda, your hands could be deadly to someone who is not well. So use the gel dispensers, use soap and water, join a world-wide drive to prevent the spread of infection through good hand hygiene.”

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