Ontario Hospital Association campaign highlights importance of effective hand hygiene

The Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) launched the "Clean Hands Protect Lives" program - a program specifically designed to educate Ontario health care patients about the importance of effective hand hygiene. This campaign is sponsored by Ontario's Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

"While hospitals continue to be committed to patient safety, they also recognize that there is always more that can be done to provide better, safer care," said Tom Closson, OHA President and CEO. "Educating patients about the importance of personal and health care provider hand hygiene is a key element in truly transforming a hospital's culture and improving patient safety." With a heightened awareness of the importance of hand hygiene among hospitals in recent months, Ontario hospitals have mobilized to enhance patient and health care provider safety through improved hand hygiene within their organizations.

Through "Clean Hands Protect Lives," Ontario hospitals will receive posters and useful educational printed materials for distribution to patients (such as pamphlets and "How to Clean" pocket cards). Print-ready materials will also be available in several different languages from the OHA Patient Safety website in the coming weeks.

"Ontario is at the leading edge of a worldwide movement to ensure better patient and health care worker safety by improving hand hygiene," said Health and Long-Term Care Minister David Caplan. "We're pleased to be supporting this initiative that seeks to raise awareness among patients about the importance of hand hygiene in hospitals."

Clean Hands Protect Lives was launched on Tuesday, October 21st at Trillium Health Centre's West Toronto site by OHA President and CEO, Tom Closson; Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, the Honourable David Caplan; Eric Vandewall, Senior Vice President, Trillium Health Centre, and Patti Cochrane, Vice President, Patient Services and Quality Outcomes, Trillium Health Centre.

"Clean Hands Protect Lives" also aligns very closely with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care's Just Clean Your Hands program, which was developed to help health care providers improve their hand hygiene and integrate this practice into their organization's culture.

http://www.oha.com/patientsafetytips