(Press-News.org) An evaluation of the national cleanyourhands campaign shows for the first time that an effective hand-hygiene campaign, undertaken in the context of a high profile political drive, can successfully reduce some healthcare associated infections, according to a new study published in tomorrow's BMJ.
The national cleanyourhands campaign was rolled out to all 187 NHS Trusts from January 2005 with instructions to provide bed-side alcohol handrub (AHR), posters encouraging healthcare workers to clean their hands and a range of patient-empowering materials. It was one of a series of national initiatives intended to reduce levels of meticillin resistant/sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA/MSSA) bacteraemia and Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection in hospitals in England & Wales.
The evaluation of the campaign was conducted by researchers at UCL's Medical School and the Health Protection Agency. They measured hospitals' quarterly procurement of AHR and soap between July 2004 and 2008. After adjusting for a number of factors, including the effect of bed occupancy, hospital type and the timing of other national interventions, they found a significant link between procurement levels and infection rates.
The research shows that during over the four-year period the combined procurement of soap and AHR almost tripled from 21.8mls per-patient-per-bed to 59.8mls. MRSA bacteraemia rates fell from 1.88 to 0.91 cases per 10,000 bed-days and C. difficile infection fell from 16.75 to 9.49 per 10,000 bed-days. Levels of MSSA bacteraemia did not fall.
The research also shows that the increased procurement of soap was independently associated with reduced C. difficile infection throughout the study, while increased procurement of alcohol hand rub was independently associated with reduced MRSA infection, but only in the last year of the study. These strong and independent associations remained after taking account of all other interventions.
"Until now we haven't been able to say whether national campaigns of this kind deliver tangible benefits for patients," says principal investigator Dr Sheldon Stone of the UCL Medical School. "What this study shows is that the cleanyourhands campaign, a centrally co-ordinated and funded strategy, produced sustained increases in the amounts of alcohol hand-rub and soap bought by hospitals, and that this in turn helped to reduce infection and improve health outcomes."
"The cleanyourhands campiagn has been a real British success story. It has really changed the culture amongst NHS staff," continues Dr Stone. "Now the campaign has stopped, many in the infection control community would like to see the progress maintained and built upon with a new national hand hygiene strategy or an updated campaign."
Professor Barry Cookson, Director of the Laboratory of Healthcare Associated Infection, at the HPA says: "This research paper shows that relatively simple measures such as handwashing and alcohol handrub can be exceptionally effective in combating the spread of harmful bacteria in healthcare establishments. Independent of all other measures we saw that the more soap and alcohol handrub were purchased the more levels of MRSA and C. difficile went down. Going forward it is these types of measures which will be at the forefront of the battle against the spread of bacteria."
INFORMATION:
Notes to Editors
Media contacts:
For a copy of the paper contact David Weston, UCL Press Office, T: +44 (0) 203 108 3844, d.weston@ucl.ac.uk
For interview contact:
Dr Sheldon Stone, Principal Investigator, UCL Medical School, T: +44 (0)7801 258 061, s.stone@medsch.ucl.ac.uk
Barry Cookson, Director, Laboratory of Healthcare associated infection and Anti Microbial Resisitance, Health Protection Agency, Tel: +44 (0)7801 309 207, barry.cookson@hpa.org.uk
About UCL (University College London)
Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. We are among the world's top universities, as reflected by performance in a range of international rankings and tables. UCL currently has 24,000 students from almost 140 countries, and more than 9,500 employees. Our annual income is over £800 million.
www.ucl.ac.uk | Follow us on Twitter @uclnews
END
Another happy slots player at Spin and Win Casino is thrilled with a life changing win. The female online slots player from Worcestershire is probably enjoying the very rainy April and May in UK after her GBP74,800 winning session.
Only 8 days after being registered on Spin and Win, she managed to win this massive amount playing mainly on two slot games, 50,000 Pyramid slots and Cleopatra Slots provided the big wins for the lucky lady. Both of the online slots are very popular games at the UK Slots venue.
The player won this amount by placing various bets during ...
A research conducted at the University of Granada has demonstrated the efficiency of a heart rehabilitation program aimed at patients suffering from heart disease. The authors of this study affirm that it is essential that heart rehabilitation programs aimed at cardiac patients are established. In Spain, a low percentage of cardiac patients participate in this type of programs, as compared to the rest of Europe.
The study included a sample of 200 patients suffering from heart disease, who were members of the Association of Cardiac Patients of Granada, Spain. Subjects ...
How do changed living conditions in rural regions affect people's health and lifestyles? This is the question that Thomas Elkeles and colleagues from the Neubrandenburg University of Applied Sciences investigate, using rural communities in north-eastern Germany as their study populations. In the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, the authors present the results of their Landesgesundheitsstudie (LGS, Rural Health Study) (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2012; 109(16): 285-92).
The particular characteristic of this study lies in the fact that the 2008 survey ties in ...
Bob Miller is one of America's most controversial authors. His new book, "Epilogue", is crammed packed with information every American needs to know...or is it? "The difference between contract killers and mob assassins is a contract killer's only goal is to complete the contract as quickly and quietly as possible; the mob assassin's job is to make you wish you were dead and then see to it that your wish comes true."
This new book by Miller is a quick read; a book about a war weary Vietnam veteran getting caught in the middle of mob wars in Las Vegas. ...
University of Warwick astrophysicists have pinpointed four white dwarfs surrounded by dust from shattered planetary bodies which once bore striking similarities to the composition of the Earth.
Using the Hubble Space Telescope for the biggest survey to date of the chemical composition of the atmospheres of white dwarf stars, the researchers found that the most frequently occurring elements in the dust around these four white dwarfs were oxygen, magnesium, iron and silicon – the four elements that make up roughly 93 per cent of the Earth.
However an even more significant ...
A study carried out by researchers from Spain, the Netherlands and Argentina suggests that in a work environment, sexual competition affects women more than men. However, a rival's social skills provoke jealousy and professional envy equally in both sexes.
A group of researchers from the universities of Valencia, Groningen (the Netherlands) and Palermo (Argentina) have analysed the differences between men and women in their way of feeling envious and jealous at work.
"Women with a high level of intrasexual competition are more jealous if the rival is more attractive ...
There have been encouraging signs from the year's early shows. The Hainan Rendezvous showed particularly encouraging signs of the industries' continued recovery into 2012. Indeed, Fraser Yachts' Global Marketing Director, Patrick Cootes commented:
"Our concerted efforts over the last 6 years or so have really started to pay dividends. We've invested significant time and effort in building strong local relationships and partnerships and there is no doubt that things are now beginning to move forwards. A strong and highly regarded brand is a particularly important ...
In classical mythology, the cypress tree is associated with death, the underworld and eternity. Indeed, the family to which cypresses belong, is an ancient lineage of conifers, and a new study of their evolution affords a unique insight into a turbulent era in the Earth's history.
During the geological era known as the Mesozoic, the continental crust was concentrated in a single huge landmass, the supercontinent Pangea. Pangea began to break up about 150 million years ago, and the fragments drifted apart, eventually giving rise to the disposition of continents we know ...
Scientists have discovered an Achilles heel within our cells that bacteria are able to exploit to cause and spread infection.
The researchers say their findings could lead to the development of new anti-infective drugs as alternatives to antibiotics whose overuse has led to resistance.
University of Manchester researchers studied Listeria – a potentially deadly group of bacteria that can cause listeriosis in humans when digested – and found they are able to spread infection by hitching a ride on a naturally occurring protein called calpain.
"Bacteria produce a number ...
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Researchers at Michigan State University have shown a prebiotic may help the body's own natural killer cells fight bacterial infection and reduce inflammation, greatly decreasing the risk of colon cancer.
Prebiotics are fiber supplements that serve as food for the trillions of tiny bacteria living in the gut. When taken, they can stimulate the growth of the "good" bacteria. The evolution of prebiotic supplements (as well as probiotics, which are actual bacteria ingested into the system) provide new therapeutic targets for researchers and physicians.
In ...
