Just Clean Your Hands

In 2011, a fourth-year science student at The University of Western Ontario must provide the manager of Infection and Prevention Control her recommendations to improve staff compliance with the hand hygiene requirements of the medical and support staff at London Health Sciences Centre and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. The Province of Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care had implemented an initiative called Just Clean Your Hands to improve hand-cleaning rates that would directly affect the number of infections acquired by patients while in hospital. The task is complicated by the large number of employees working at LHSC and the many different employee groups, ranging from physicians to cleaning staff. Hand-cleaning procedures must also be followed by the patients' families and friends who visit. In addition, workplace sub-cultures have historically not enforced compliance with discipline. Essentially, the challenge is to change the behaviour of a large group of people in diverse roles. Students should realize that because health care is publicly funded in Ontario, any plan of action to improve hand-cleaning compliance will need to be justified financially and implemented at a reasonable cost.