The World Health Organization has established five key moments when healthcare professionals should perform hand hygiene. According to theAmerican Journal of Infection Control, the fifth moment, following the interaction of patient surroundings, is the most overlooked.

May 5^th marks World Hand Hygiene Day – a call to action to increase awareness and instances of effective hand hygiene. 

To promote awareness around the tangible risks of infection during “the fifth moment,” SCA commissioned a study to better understand the pathogenic risks in a patient’s immediate surroundings. The examined surfaces harboured a wide variety of bacteria, some of which are potential pathogens and can lead to infections.

To combat these risks, SCA Tork brand suggests three meaningful ways to mitigate infection spread:

1. Increased engagement within healthcare facilities

• Facilities can leverage creative signage to engage patients and staff to practice effective hand hygiene

• Tork has created torkhealthyhands.com, a free service where hospitals can create customized posters with their logos to capture people’s attention

2. Proper hygiene product placement

• Optimizing dispenser placements within facilities can increase usage by more than 50%

• A recent study from Tork can help organizations maximize the positive impact of these placements

3. Introducing smart technology

•  Recent innovations like SCA’s Tork EasyCube™ Intelligent Restroom System help hospital staff ensure all hand hygiene stations are properly stocked by capturing real-time data and allowing them to undercover and analyze trends to improve overall placement and upkeep of stations throughout facilities