Infection Prevention – Is it in Our Hands?

Infection Prevention – Is it in Our Hands? is organized by e-EdCredits.

Date Expires: Jul 31, 2023

Course Description:
In an age where preventive health care has been deemed valuable, Dr. Holmes’ words are as current now as they were in the 1800’s. Each year, nearly 2 million people in the United States get an infection as a result of receiving health care in a hospital and 88,000 die as a direct or indirect result of these infections. Hand-transmission is a major factor in the spread of bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens that cause disease, foodborne illnesses, and nosocomial infections. Everyone is vulnerable, but the elderly, young children, pregnant women, and those with a compromised immune system are at the highest risk. In 1855, Holmes republished his paper in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences and this time he received the support of his colleagues. Holmes considered nosocomial infections as "professional homicide" and believed that ignoring this issue in medicine should not be acceptable. It is hard to image that in nearly 150 years the "homicide" that Holmes referred to still remains a threat to recipients of health care.

Objectives
• Discuss the importance of handwashing and its effect on the transmission of nosocomial infections.
• Explain the significance of fingernails (artificial or natural) and their potential role in transmitting infection.
• Describe the Center’s for Disease Control’s and other national group’s recommendations regarding hand hygiene.

Additional details will be posted as soon as information is available.