Clontarf Hospital has created an innovative campaign to promote hand hygiene for hospital staff as part of World Sepsis Day.
The campaign, called ‘Bare Below the Elbow’, consists of several photographs of various hospital workers, including healthcare assistants, porters, caterers and physiotherapists, displayed on the wall of a ward. All staff are pictured wearing elbow-length sleeves as part of their efforts to minimise infection.
Ann Gaffney, an infection control nurse at Clontarf Hospital, helped create the campaign as she believes there is a responsibility amongst all hospital staff, not just doctors and nurses, to commit to hand hygiene. She says that participation in the photo campaign was great and that patients themselves have praised the initiative, with some even recognising their caregivers photos on the wall.
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Ann tells Dublin Live: “Something like this is more personal than putting up a poster from the HSE or the WHO. It brings home that staff from every discipline are responsible for being bare below the elbow. The campaign’s received a lot of interest, particularly as a lot of patients have had a family member or a friend die of sepsis.”
Ann hopes the public will also take away some valid information about sepsis from the campaign, as the disease often spreads through poor hand hygiene. The risk of sepsis, which is responsible for around 46-50 million deaths annually, can be kept at bay by being vigilant around vulnerable family members.
She also encourages people who suspect that a family member may have sepsis to look out for the following signs of the disease. The infection can spread rapidly, meaning timely treatment is of the essence.
Ann says: “Basic signs include confusion, high temperature, a feeling of foreboding or doom, breathlessness, an inability to pass urine and discolouration of the skin. It’s relevant to everybody and it’s worth knowing the signs.”
Sepsis causes around 60% of hospital related deaths each year in Ireland, according to figures published by the Royal College of Surgeons. It is referred to as a “silent killer” and most typically occurs in immunocompromised patients in hospital or those who have recently undergone surgery.
Ann says that while hand hygiene amplified as a result of Covid-19, she believes it is important for all hospital staff and families to be mindful of it even though the pandemic has lessened. She also urges the family members of patients in hospital to take heed of the campaign in order to protect their loved ones.
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