The Clinic for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at Klinikum Westbrandenburg in Potsdam improves patient safety and infection control in the neonatal unit thanks to easily accessible hand disinfectant dispensers.
Neonatal units require the highest standards of hygiene. The immune systems of newborn and premature babies are not yet fully developed, so pathogens can quickly gain the upper hand. Preventing hospital-acquired infections is crucial in the neonatal department and hygienic hand disinfection is probably the most important preventative measure to improve, since 80% of all infectious diseases are transmitted by our hands.
Hospitals are constantly striving to further improve hand hygiene compliance—especially in hygiene-sensitive areas. Klinikum Westbrandenburg (KWB) shows how an already good hygiene strategy can be improved.
One step ahead of infections
In the course of introducing new incubators in the neonatology department, the neonatology team and the hospital’s hygiene managers considered how hand hygiene could be brought to the point of care, right beside the patient. After all, this is where most hand disinfecting needs to take place.
The facility quickly found a suitable mounting solution for disinfectant dispensers with OPHARDT Hygiene. The solution, according to Annett Lehmann, hygiene specialist at the KWB, needed to be “easily accessible at the incubators”, so that the walking paths and work flow of the clinic staff was as seamless and uninterrupted as possible. This was a matter close to the heart of the neonatology team. Proper placement would not just create greater efficiency or speed. The easier a disinfectant dispenser is to reach, the more likely it is to be used.
Together with the mounting solution, new ingo-man® plus series disinfectant dispensers were purchased for the neonatal ward. These dispensers are completely touch-free, making them the most hygienic solution for this sensitive space. Another benefit of the dispensers is that its whisper-quiet noise means that the newborns are protected from unnecessary noise pollution. The vibration-free dispenser is also important for the peace and quiet of the little patients in the incubator.
A total of nine new touchless disinfection dispensers, including mounts, are used on the incubators. The hospital favors the 1-litre Euro Bottle as the larger container size keeps refill cycles to a minimum. Other conveniently located touchless dispensers can be found throughout the neonatal ward, ensuring easy access to hand hygiene.
Clean hands, happy faces
Feedback from neonatology staff on the new mounting solutions and hand disinfectant dispensers has been “thoroughly positive”, according to hygiene specialist Annett Lehmann.
As a result, the neonatal department of the KWB has decided to introduce more mounted, touchless disinfectant dispensers from the ingo-man® plus series. As the ward expands to 20 beds in the future, it considers itself to be well-positioned to deliver optimal care with excellent hand hygiene to the approximately 300 patients it treats annually.
A big thank you to the entire neonatology department at Klinikum Westbrandenburg, with special thanks given to Katrin Woeckener and OA Dr. Szekessy, MD for their support.
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