If there is one group of people you would expect to be washing their hands properly during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is healthcare professionals.Data shows doctors and ambulance workers have not met the national standards for hand hygieneElective surgeries are down by almost 10 per cent this year compared to last year
The figures show only 79.5 per cent of doctors and 74.5 per cent of ambulance workers captured in the audit of the public hospital system washed or sanitised their hands when required, below the national benchmark of 80 per cent. "Unfortunately, we as doctors have to acknowledge sometimes we are not as good as nurses, for instance, at following protocols and doing what we're told," he said.
Dr Khorshid also stressed that while hand hygiene was important, doctors and ambulance workers were often under enormous pressure trying to keep people alive."It's much easier to remember the important steps around hand hygiene when you're in an ordered, normal environment like a ward environment or a clinic environment," he said.
Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)