Your Mother WasRight...Wash A (NAPSA)—Experts are coming clean on the issue of handwashing as a critical step to help ensure good health. It turns out that when our mothers told us to wash up, they knew what they were talking about. It’s believed by many that handwashing maybe the single most important means of prevent- ing the spreadof infectious disease. Yet recent studies reveal that healthcare professionals aren’t consistently following this seemingly simple advice. In the rush ofrealworld clinical settings, few healthcare facilities’ personnel fully comply with handhygiene guidelines. Longer hospital stays, more complicated disease states and sometimes even deathsare attributed to the spread of germs in the hospital. The lack of handwashing compliance in medical facilities has become so widespread that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released a new Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care Settings. Medical gloves appear to be an easy solution to prevent hand contamination but in practice, exam gloves may tear or get pinholes, giving germs an opportunity to spread from one patient to another or from clinician to patient. And as a patient, you have the right to expect your caregivers to practice good hand hygiene. In fact, the results of a Boston medical study show that a hospi- Effective hygiene can help prevent the spread of disease. tal’s infection rate was greatly reduced when patients were encouraged to ask clinicians if they washed their hands. It’s important to be an informed patient and ask, “Did you wash your hands?” before you receive any medicalcare. To address these issues, the CDC recommends the increased use of alcohol-based cleansers because of effectiveness and ease of use. Regent Medical’s Hibistat line includes effective alcoholbased products and their newest product—Hibistat towelettes— give healthcare workers even more convenience to effectively clean their hands. For more information on Hibistat, please visit Regent Medical at www.regentmedical.com or call 1-800-843-8497.
