By Healthcare Facilities Today

A new campaign launched by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), called "Infection Prevention and You," engages patients to help hospitals overcome one of the most persistent barriers to preventing hospital-acquired infections (HAIs)—healthcare professionals failing to practice proper hand hygiene, according to an article on The Hospitalist website.

"We know that washing hands is important, and so many things have been tried," Carol McLay, infection prevention consultant and chair of APIC's Communications Committee, said in the article. "Patient empowerment is one of the newer approaches. Studies have shown that patients really like the idea, but often are afraid to speak up."

"I would hope that physicians, including hospitalists, would view it as an opportunity to do the right thing, to serve as effective role models, and to say to their patients, 'Your health is important to me,'" she said.

Read the article.