The clean team came out of the competition with a prize of B3,000 to share between them.
The hand-cleaning competition was one of the activities in the “Clean Hand Project II by IC”, aimed at making hospital employees and the public in general more aware of how to clean their hands effectively.
The hand washing competition was accompanied by a display of pictures and information on how washing of the hands is accomplished.
“Washing your hands is easily performed and inexpensive, and it is effective against infection by – and spread of – viruses and bacteria within the hospital. It is frequently found that diseases spread via the hands of individuals,” explained hospital director Dr Jesada Jongpaiboolpatana.
The doctor said effective hand washing depends on a number of related factors: wearing rings and gloves, and using hand lotion.
“People who don’t remove bangles, rings and wrist watches cannot completely clean their hands,” he said, adding, “Bacteria accumulate in rings.”
As for wearing protective gloves, he noted that hands may become tainted by bacteria when removing the gloves, and that the gloves themselves “may leak.” So, he said, it is essential to wash one’s hands after removing gloves.
Besides reducing the spread of disease, said Dr Jesada, washing hands allows the hospital to save money on the use of antiseptic, reduces costs for long-stay patients and “probably results in fewer malpractice suits from patients who contract diseases in the hospital”.
A hand washing competition elimination round was held on August 20 and 21. “Staff had to wash their hands in time to music while on stage,” said Dr Jesada, “displaying the seven steps of washing and ‘five moments [in time]’ as appropriate to their roles within the various medical units and hospital wards.
“Twenty four medical units competed. Judging was performed by a board of five, who selected six teams for the finals today.”
The names of the biggest losers in the competition were not announced.
– Source: Manager Online