Hand hygiene
Hand hygiene is important in preventing the transmission of infection at home and especially in all health and social care settings. Cleaning hands properly is the single most important thing anyone can do to help to reduce the spread of infections.
Hands should always be washed with soap and water if they are visibly soiled, or after using the toilet. Alcohol hand rub can be used if hands are visibly clean but it is not effective against some infections (e.g. Clostridium difficile), so washing with soap and water is safer.
Washing hands properly takes about 20 seconds (as long as singing the song ’Happy Birthday’ twice). A video from the NHS available via YouTube shows the correct way to wash hands, while the WHO’s My Five Moments for Hand Hygiene guidance, which defines the key moments when healthcare workers should carry out hand hygiene, can be adapted for community pharmacy as follows:
- Before touching a patient/service user (before a consultation)
- Before clean/aseptic procedures (before handling or dispensing medication)
- After body fluid exposure/risk (after consultations/dispensing medication)
- After touching a patient/service user
- After touching a person’s surroundings.
Personal hygiene
In addition to hand hygiene, personal hygiene is also important. Long hair should be tied back, nails kept short and minimum jewellery worn. Rings with stones in them should not be worn as they are difficult to clean properly.
Open wounds should be covered with an occlusive dressing and clinical gloves should only be put on immediately before use and disposed of appropriately afterwards. However, glove use is not a substitute for good hand hygiene.