Handwashing among hospital staff lacking: review

A review of hospital cleanlinessshows only about 60 per cent of medical staff at in Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay wash their hands before seeing patients and only about 70 per cent wash afterwards.

Mario Paluzzi, the director of communications at the Sault Area Hospital, said handwashing is the easiest way to prevent infections in hospitals. Unfortunately, it may also be the easiest to forget.

Paluzzi said theres no easy solution either.

"Its one of those where you just have to hammer it home and repeat it all the time," he said. "If its not first nature, you have to stand over it and keep on top of mind."

Kim Carter said her hospital could do better. The co-ordinator of infection control at the North Bay Regional Health Centre said the hospital even assigned a nurse specifically to make handwashing a priority among staff.

"There [are] so many things for them to remember ... and so many priorities that have to compete," Carter said.

The North Bay hospital still sees only 56 per cent of staff who wash their hands before seeing a patient.

The Timmins and District Hospital performed the best of the larger hospitals in the area. Staff washed their hands 74 per cent of the time before seeing patients and 81 per cent afterwards.

"Its the single most effective thing that we can do and yet its also one of the easiest things that we can do," Paluzzi said. "By the same token, its also one of the things that's perhaps the easiest to forget or overlook."