Hand Hygiene SA

SA Health has implemented two hand hygiene programs throughout South Australia. One has been specifically designed for in-patient acute care facilities, where the approach is based on the World Health Organisation concept of “5 moments” for hand hygiene. The second is the SA Health Wash, Wipe, Cover – don’t infect another! campaign for healthcare provided in community settings and for the general public.

The implementation of the national Hand Hygiene Australia program in acute care hospitals in South Australia is a major focus of infection prevention in South Australian hospitals.

SA Health has developed a suite of hand hygiene implementation tools to assist health facilities to implement their hand hygiene program.

South Australia is supporting this initiative by including hand hygiene compliance as a key performance indicator of patient safety and quality of health care delivery. The key performance indicators for the program include the percentage compliance with hand hygiene, as measured by a standardised observational method, and the rate of health care associated bloodstream infection caused by Staphylococcus aureus.

For further information and links to relevant resources visit the Infection Control Service website.

Contact

Wendy Peecock, State Hand Hygiene Coordinator

Telephone: (08) 7425 7155