Clean hands for good health
Not washing one’s hands after going to a bath room is synonymous to touching genitals in public, graphic Japanese illustrations show. But unlike the hygiene-savvy Japanese, Filipinos seem to blissfully regret their sanitation.
“We lack the culture of safety. Besides, Filipino hygiene is not internationally-standard,” Department of Health Undersecretary Dr. Teodoro Herbosa says. Most Filipinos hardly wash their hands with soap and water from time to time. He further sites samples of men spitting anywhere and barrio midwives’ lack of hygiene, among others.
It turns out that even hospitals seemingly forgo hand washing, not because of lack of sanitary senses but because of lack of time and opportunity. This is where the recently concluded symposium on hand hygiene and patient safety comes in. Guest speaker and renowned Director of Infection Control Program Professor Diddier Pittet, MD says that every hospital bed and facility must have an alcohol near the patient zone.
According to him, doctors and healthcare workers should practice proper hand hygiene before touching a patient, before doing a procedure, after a procedure, after touching a patient, and after touching the patient’s surroundings.
Where is he coming from? Apparently, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) the failure to perform proper hand hygiene is still considered to be the leading cause of Healthcare Associated Infections (HIA) in both developed and developing countries. In fact, approximately 1.4 million patients get infected in hospitals. Hand hygiene has also been a significant contributor to the spread of multi-drug resistant organisms and other outbreaks in the hospital setting. Samples of HIA are malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, and measles. The reduction of the measles outbreak boils down to proper hand hygiene.
ALCOHOL 101
Pittet advocates the use of alcohol especially in hospitals because of its convenience and efficacy. Alcohol in addition, is much accessible and cause lesser skin irritation. He adds that alcohol in gel, foam, or spray type does not matter as long as the anti-bacterial property is high.
“If water and soap are not available use alcohol, but I am not telling you to replace it with alcohol,” Pittet says. What is important is one’s sense of hand hygiene regardless of what he or she prefers to use.
It turns out there are also different kinds of alcohol. Pittet says that alcohol must have a 75% or higher isopropyl concentration and 80% or higher ethyl concentration to be effective.
The problem seemingly boils down on our fluctuating hygiene regimens. Remember the alcogel-keychain that was once dangling on everybody’s bag? That was the fad back on the days. Now is the perfect time to resurrect it.
Herbosa aptly concludes that Filipino cleanliness must root on our conscious change of the system, culture, and behavior.
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