Importance of Hand Hygiene in Pediatric Healthcare Setting

Thomas Sandora, MD, MPH, hospital epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, explains the importance of hand hygiene in healthcare associated infection prevention in pediatric settings.

Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability).

“For infection prevention, it’s always about hand hygiene as the core measure, so a lot of hospitals now are spending a lot of time teaching families and patients about how to do [proper] hand hygiene. Of course, healthcare workers always have to clean their hands appropriately in healthcare settings, but we can also have the families and the patients themselves partner with us to increase hand hygiene rates.

Families can be taught how to do hand hygiene when caring for their own kid. They can serve as [advocates] for their child in the hospital if they see a healthcare provider come into the room, [by] reminding them that they need to do hand hygiene if they don’t see it done. That can increase hand hygiene rates in the hospital and minimize the chance of transmitting infections. So, I think that that’s a very important strategy.”