Issue Date: 7 June 2011
Ref: DIV11/20
INFECTION PREVENTION AND HAND HYGIENE HIGHLIGHTED BY DIVERSEY AT ICPIC
Diversey focuses on hand hygiene as the central component of its infection prevention and healthcare sector hygiene capabilities and expertise at the 1st International Conference on Prevention & Infection Control (ICPIC). The company is committed to fighting permanent threats to human life and has long-held values to protect lives and preserve the earth.
The company will showcase two new pan-European intervention programmes designed to increase hand hygiene compliance in hospitals and long term care facilities. These have been developed in conjunction with behavioural scientists and infection control specialists and are the result of extensive research which identified the key messages that lead to significant understanding and behavioural change among professionals in the respective sectors. Each utilises psychological triggers that aim to change hand washing behaviour permanently and positively.
The importance of hand hygiene has been long understood but the challenge has been to change behaviours in these busy working environments. This is the central aim of these new programmes. The Mark This programme is designed specifically for hospitals and will introduce a series of messages focused around the significance of hand hygiene in successful patient outcomes. The Gang of Microbes programme for the long term care sector aims to reinforce positive messages about hand hygiene among staff working in nursing homes.
Each programme will comprise a series of items and objects containing simple messages alongside complementary activities that will be run in partnership with major health organisations and service providers in a number of countries. The programmes will run for one year and be refreshed at regular intervals to ensure the new behaviour becomes part of the routine of the professionals concerned.
Both programmes are supported by Diversey’s highly effective hand hygiene range comprising hand soaps, hand sanitisers and hand care products. The range includes Soft Care Med H5 and Soft Care Des E H5, two alcohol-based hand rubs that are used throughout Europe by healthcare professionals because of their proven performance against a wide range of infections and organisms and their ease of use.
As a global leader in hygiene solutions Diversey works with infection control and other professionals throughout the healthcare sector to help them achieve and maintain superior levels of hygiene in all areas, from environmental cleaning, hand hygiene, laundry, food safety, and kitchen cleaning.
The company offers a complete range of products, training, technical support and services designed to enable its partners to meet their strategic infection control and prevention objectives. It also participates in national, regional and global associations and programmes that aim to promote a cleaner and healthier future for people around the world. A good example of this is the company’s www.cleanerandhealthier.com website which provides a wide ranging resource covering infection prevention and control addressing the needs of different industries.
Diversey is committed to a cleaner healthier future globally and is sponsoring three selected delegates from economically challenged countries to attend ICPIC. This will enable these professionals to share their knowledge and experiences to help create a truly global conference and a worldwide approach to hospital acquired infection-prevention and anti-microbial resistance.