Box 5 Hand hygiene initiatives for IPC

Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “Agostino Gemelli” IRCCS in Rome has always been very attentive to Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) and since 2014 has been collaborating with the Catholic University’s Master’s program “Sepsis in Surgery” promoting an intensive campaign on handwashing for IPC.

The hospital is participating in World Hand Hygiene Day launched by WHO, which is held annually on May 5. During this day, the hospital's entire infection control team (microbiologists, infectious disease and hygiene specialists, intensivists, surgeons and many other professionals) enthusiastically participates in different events organized within the campus, from lectures to demonstrative activities involving physicians and nurses [81, 82].

Moreover, several initiatives have been implemented, including:

• the draft of a series of posters promoting the good practice of hand hygiene to prevent transmission of pathogens

• exemplification and validation of the practice of handwashing by reducing the number of steps (only six) required for good cleaning as shown in the Fig. 1. These steps were actively promoted in a variety of media including posters, gadgets (on 6 faces of a dice), pamphlets, videos

• the creation of an infographic that summarizes when hands should be washed according to the activities performed inside or outside the patient's room as shown in the Fig. 2

As a result of these activities and actions taken by the hospital managers, the good practice of hand hygiene is growing steadily, now reaching an overall compliance of more than 80%

In addition, all of these communication, education and training activities, along with the regular surveillance of infections in the various departments by the hospital's Infection Control Committee, help to increase attention to and awareness of infection risk in the hospital and raise the level of the quality process.

Once again, this dissemination of knowledge and the corresponding adherence to correct clinical practices in terms of prevention and control of hospital infections has proven to be of particular importance during this long period of Covid-19 pandemic.