Page 85 - Coal Quality Testing
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Approximately, 39% of people don’t wash   air-borne diseases can be transmitted   •   Before and after touching
        their hands after sneezing, coughing or   but many of skin infections can also be   surrounding area of patient
        after blowing their nose.         transmitted from one person to another.
                          3
                                          The epidemiology triad consists of vector,
        Let us widen our horizon and take   host and agent and as all three cause   For general public:
        example of a vendor selling vegetables   disease to manifest, anyone under control   •   Before and after having food
        at the corner of a lane, people buy   may control the manifestation or can
        vegetables from him and exchange the   even lead to elimination of the disease.  •   After using toilets
        currencies/coins This give and take                                  •   After touching shoes
        is not limited only to vegetables and   I would like to quote here my experience
        currencies but thousands of microbes are   of hand hygiene workshops conducted   •   Before entering kitchen
        transferred while this transaction is being   by us at various hospitals for doctors   •   Before cooking
        done. These tiny members of ecosystem   and staff & at schools for teachers and   •   Before serving food
        called bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi   students. We could come across few
        are very adaptive and opportunistic   common lacunae at both the places   •   After dusting and cleaning home
        in nature and hence, these don’t miss   that people are not aware about the   •   Washing hands and legs before
        a single chance to enter into human   hand wash technique, how diseases are   entering home
        body and feed on them. Such entry of   transmitted from one person to another,   •   After touching currency
        these microbes is mediated by vehicles   what impact it has on doctor’s and his
        like mobiles, newspapers, currencies,   family’s health, how the vicious cycle of   •   After greeting people (shaking hands
        stationary, clothes, utensils, automobiles,   disease transmission, cross infections   is one of the major acts involved in
        spectacles, ear-phones and what not, the   and increase resistant microbes start?   disease transmission)
        list is long. Every single object we touch,   These are few important questions and
        exchanges the microbes and chances of   all are to be addressed very seriously   What is the impact of hand
        getting infected increases after every act.  so as to check the spread of disease,   hygiene in healthcare quality
                                          improve patient’s health status and form   improvement?
        One simple habit of hand washing can   a healthy society. It is necessary to run a
        easily help us unloading the major load   nationwide campaign for achieving the   •   It reduces the disease transmission-
        of microbes which definitely reduces   aim of a healthy society and a healthy   reduction in diarrheal disease by
        chances of infection and spread of   nation.                            50%, 16% reduction in respiratory
        infections to a greater extent. Now,                                    diseases
        consider the scenario at a hospital,
        where nurses give medication, injections                             •   Reduces hospital stay by 56-60%
        to every patient. Doctors take round   Following are the             •   Increases rate of recovery
        twice a day for every patient, hospital   check points where         •   Reduces rate of complication
        staff changes the bedsheets, give bed
        pan, change the urine bag etc. While   we need to wash our           •   Increases hospital efficiency, efficacy
        performing the above activities does   hands in a systematic            and profitability
        every staff, every doctor, every care-
        taker, take care of their hand hygiene?   manner:                    Health Industry is not only about the
        It’s obvious to simply overrule this simple                          funds coming to industry or the output
        practice in day-to-day routine. This   For hospital staff:           given by the industry but it is also
        ignorance can not only affect the patient’s                          about how much information does it
        graph but can also be proved dangerous   •   Before and after touching the patient   disseminates and how it contributes to
        to the life of staff, doctors and nurses and   •   Before doing any intervention  make society hygienic and ‘less-prone’
        their families. Not only water-borne and   •   After body fluid exposure   to disease. A healthy society is the
                                                                             foundation of a healthy nation.

        1   https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/forgetting-to-wash-your-hands-can-cost-lives last accessed on 18th December 2019.  |   w w w . qcin. or g
        2  https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/hygiene/index.html last accessed on 15th December 2019.
        3   https://allportablesinks.com/blogs/news/17-handwashing-facts-and-statistics last accessed on 10th December 2019


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