August 19, 2005

Clean hands equal healthy patients

Three inpatient units have achieved the second-quarter goal of the 2005 MGH Hand Hygiene Clean Sweepstakes contest — a hand hygiene compliance rate of 60 percent before patient contact and 80 percent after patient contact. Congratulations go to Bigelow 9, Ellison 14 and Phillips 22.

The Clean Sweepstakes is sponsored by the STOP — Stop Transmission of Pathogens — task force. It is a friendly competition among patient care units to encourage all MGHers to use Cal Stat — a waterless hand disinfectant
— before and after patient contact to help reduce the rates of hospital-acquired infections and improve patient care.

For the third quarter of 2005, any unit that achieves both a compliance rate of at least 70 percent before and 80 percent after contact with a patient or a patient's environment will receive a reward.