Hand Hygiene

Hand Hygiene

Background

Hand hygiene is a simple and important way to stop infection from spreading in healthcare settings. To perform good hand hygiene use alcohol-based hand sanitizer or wash your hands with soap and water.

Use soap and water when your hands are visibly dirty, after you use the restroom, and before eating or cooking. Washing with soap and water is also important to stop the spread of certain germs like C. difficile.

For alcohol-based hand sanitizers to work well, they need to have at least 60% alcohol and should be used when your hands are not visibly dirty or greasy.

Keeping your hands clean is the best way to stop diseases from spreading in healthcare settings.

 

 

 

Educational Resources

VDH Infection Prevention and Control Assessments: The HAI/AR team is available to conduct a no-cost, non-regulatory, onsite visit to help a facility identify its infection prevention strengths and areas of opportunity.

Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)

  • Toolkit for Patient Hand Hygiene: This toolkit is an all-encompassing resource designed to empower healthcare professionals like you to champion hand hygiene practices among patients and residents.  

Joint Commission

SHEA/IDSA/APIC Practice Recommendation

Virginia Healthcare-Associated Infections Advisory Group

VCU Virginia Infection Prevention Training Center

World Health Organization

Last Updated: October 16, 2024