Resources

Title/link	Description
Clean your hands	A NHS campaign aimed at healthcare institutions, run by the National Patient Safety Agency. Although the campaign is no longer active, the website is still full of useful content in the Resource Area.
RLO: Clean Your Hands	Online version of a DVD aimed at patients, healthcare workers and hospital visitors, which is being shown on plasma screens and bedside televisions in wards. The video outlines the importance of hand hygiene, and the practical steps that everyone can take to reduce the chances of damaging infections, such as MRSA and clostridium dificile, being passed to patients by healthcare workers and visitors. It's aimed at patients, healthcare workers and hospital visitors, and will also be useful for health care students in preparation for practice.
Guidelines for Preventing Hospital-acquired infections (PDF)	Department of Health (2001). The epic Project: Developing National Evidence-based Guidelines for Preventing Healthcare associated Infections. Phase 1: Guidelines for Preventing Hospital-acquired Infections. Journal of Hospital Infection (2001) 47(Supplement).
Handwashing requirements in a restaurant	Guildelines for restaurant employees on hand hygiene. This might be of use as restaurant workers have to be strict on hand hygiene as they can easily pass on infection to customers.
The Student's Guide to Health	A useful resource page for young people, with links to resources on health and wellbeing, including a section on "practicing good hygiene" which includes links to hand hygiene sites.

Glossary

Air-borne - Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) is present in dust particles and skin scales which spread in the air.
Blood - is a reservoir of viruses such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.
Bodily Fluids - infections such as Clostridium difficile are present in diarrhoea and Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) can be found in wounds, sputum and urine.
Cross-infection - occurs when an infection spreads from one site to another. In a healthcare setting, cross-infection occurs when Patient A becomes infected with the germs from Patient B.
Direct Contact - Micro-organisms may transfer onto the hands of healthcare workers if they touch a reservoir of infection, for example a blood spillage or an infected wound. The hands become transiently contaminated, and further direct contact with a susceptible patient surface, for example an open wound or a cannula site, may result in transfer of the disease-causing microbes.
Droplet - The common cold, flu and pulmonary tuberculosis are spread by droplet infection, for example in coughs and sneezes.
Faecal-oral Route - Enteric diseases spread by faecal-oral ingestion include Clostridium difficile, viral gastroenteritis and Salmonella.
HAI - stands for Healthcare Acquired Infection. It refers to the introduction of disease-causing micro-organisms as a direct result of healthcare. The transfer of these micro-organisms between patients is commonly due to direct contact and subsequent carriage of the micro-organisms by the hands.
Pathogen - disease causing micro-organism.
Skin - Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) and Streptococcus A are common micro-organisms causing infections on wounds and skin.
Transient Contamination - occurs when hands pick up disease-causing micro-organisms and carry them temporarily. They can be washed off, killed with alcohol-based handrub or transferred to a susceptible site on a patient, for example a cannula site or an open wound, thus causing disease.
Wounds - Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) and Streptococcus A are common micro-organisms causing infections on wounds and skin.