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Standard Precautions:Focus on Hand Hygiene

Intended Audience: Supervisors, Managers and Direct Caregivers

Permission is granted to reproduce these training materials with proper attribution for internal use within healthcare organizations or government agencies at no cost to the training participants. Other reproduction is prohibited without written permission from UW Oshkosh CCDET. All rights are reserved. For information on reproducing these materials, please contact the Director of UW Oshkosh CCDET at 920-424-3034.

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Standard Precautions: Focus on Hand Hygiene

• Learning Points– Review standard precautions and why they

are important in your work– Learn more about common communicable

diseases in healthcare facilities– Practice/review hand hygiene techniques

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What are Standard Precautions?

• Ways of doing your work to prevent the spread of disease

• Name some common diseases that are bloodborne or spread through contact with people

It is estimated that failure to practice proper hand hygiene is the #1 cause of the spread

of disease in healthcare facilities.

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Common Communicable Diseases in LTC*

• Norovirus

• MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)

• Influenza

• Escherichia coli (E. coli)

• Clostridium Difficile (C. diff)

*and other health care settings

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Hand Hygiene

• Plays a strong role in preventing the spread of communicable disease

• Hand hygiene includes washing with soap and water and also using hand gel

• When should a caregiver perform hand hygiene?

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Activity: Practice Hand Hygiene

• Let’s watch a brief video first:http://www.cdc.gov/cdctv/handstogether/

• Practice using soap and water

• Practice using hand gel

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More Information

• Soap vs. Hand Rubs• Using Hand Lotion• Fingernails• Personal Protective Equipment: Gloves• Wrap-Up/Learning Points Review

Practice Standard Precautions.It’s Contagious!