Hand Hygiene Initiative

Bradford Regional Medical Center (BRMC) has launched a comprehensive Hand Hygiene Initiative (HHI), which is supported by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and designed to reduce the number of infections acquired in the healthcare setting.

"Our hospital is committed to taking meaningful steps to prevent healthcare associated infections," said Timothy J. Finan, president and CEO. "This Hand Hygiene Initiative is a reflection of our continuing effort to provide high quality care and ensure the safest possible environment for our patients."

Currently, approximately 90,000 hospital patients die nationwide each year as a result of healthcare-associated infections. Proper hygiene practices can go a long way in preventing the spread of infection. This new initiative is aimed at promoting a change in culture that stresses the importance of hand hygiene, with the ultimate goal of saving lives.

As healthcare workers are often exposed to infectious bacteria, and can obtain thousands of bacteria by completing simple tasks such as taking a pulse or blood pressure, this initiative stresses the importance of washing hands before entering and exiting patient rooms at the hospital. In order to reduce the risk of infection, hospital officials are focusing on promoting daily practices for employees, patients and visitors. Patients are encouraged to ask visitors, nurses and physicians that enter their rooms if they’ve washed their hands before coming in.

"The healthcare associated infection rates at Bradford Regional Medical Center fall well below the national average," said Terrie O’Brien, RN, Infection Control Practitioner at Bradford Regional Medical Center. "We’ve instituted this Hand Hygiene Initiative to lower these rates even further. Simply put, hand hygiene saves lives and this initiative allows us to pursue our goal of completely eliminating the risk of healthcare associated infections at our facilities."

Hand sanitizer dispensers are located throughout the hospital, including each patient room, outside of each elevator, and throughout every main hallway. Hospital officials are actively monitoring hand hygiene compliance, and have created numerous educational materials, which are available throughout the facility, to promote the initiative.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is an independent, not-for profit-organization focused on motivating and building the will for change, identifying and testing new models of care in partnership with both patients and health care professionals, and ensuring the broadest possible adoption of best practices and effective innovations.