Health care associated infections are a major and growing issue in the quality and safety of health care, in both the hospital and community settings. Effective hand hygiene is the single most important strategy in preventing health care associated infections. The World Health Organisation (WHO) relaunched their campaign as “Save Lives: Clean Your Hands” as part of a global movement to improve hand hygiene.
In Australia the purpose of the National Hand Hygiene Initiative – Hand Hygiene Australia is to develop a national approach to hand hygiene that will standardise hand hygiene practice and placement of alcohol-based hand rub in every Australian hospital.
The Consumers Federation of Australia has a representative on the Standards Australia Technical Committee SF-021 Human Factors which is currently developing a new standard on the Placement and presentation of hand hygiene materials in health care settings.
CFA provides volunteer representatives on Standards Australia Technical Committees as part of the CFA Standards Project. If you are interested in finding out more about the Project and/or becoming a volunteer CFA Standards Representative please contact the Standards Coordinator standards@consumeraction.org.