Hand Hygiene: Clean Hands Help Prevent Infections

This course is part of our Foundational Course in Infection Prevention and Control. See below for links to other modules!

Course Overview 

The Virginia Infection Prevention Training Center’s foundational module on Hand Hygiene provides an overview of infection prevention best practices specific to hand hygiene in patient-facing roles. Topics include hand hygiene as an infection prevention strategy, how to perform hand hygiene, and the WHO 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene.

Target Audience

Target audience for this course are healthcare professionals beginning their experience in infection prevention and control training and who have little to no practice in infection prevention and control concepts. 

Audience examples include novice infection preventionists, clinical healthcare professionals, and nonclinical healthcare leaders, such as environmental services managers, who are seeking foundational infection prevention and control knowledge.

Overall Learning Objectives

• Identify the value of hand hygiene as an infection prevention strategy
• Describe how to perform hand hygiene optimally using soap and water
• Describe how to perform hand hygiene optimally using alcohol hand rub
• Describe when to perform hand hygiene during a patient encounter 

Continuing Education Credit

Continuing education (CE) credit is available for this course from 2/20/24 to 2/20/27. To claim credit, please watch this video in its entirety, then visit the VCU Continuing Medical Education activity page to obtain your credit.

How Did We Do?

We appreciate your feedback and suggestions on how we can improve this course for future participants. Please complete this anonymous evaluation for Hand Hygiene: Clean Hands Help Prevent Infections.

Resources

• Boyce JM, Pittet D; Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee; HICPAC/SHEA/APIC/IDSA Hand Hygiene Task Force. Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care Settings. Recommendations of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee and the HICPAC/SHEA/APIC/IDSA Hand Hygiene Task Force. Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America/Association for Professionals in Infection Control/Infectious Diseases Society of America. MMWR Recomm Rep. 2002 Oct 25;51(RR-16):1-45, quiz CE1-4. PMID: 12418624
• CDC Clean Hands: Current guidance on hand hygiene and glove use for healthcare workers.
• CDC Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Recommendations and guidance on preventing transmission of pathogens in healthcare settings.
• CDC Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs): Reports and data on preventing healthcare-associated infections.
• WHO Hand Hygiene: Why, How & When?: Downloadable information explaining how and when to practice hand hygiene.

VIPTC’s Foundational Course in Infection Prevention and Control

The Foundational Course in Infection Prevention & Control is designed for healthcare professionals who require focused education on beginner-level infection prevention and control (IPC) concepts. The goal of the course is to provide specialized training on fundamental infection prevention subjects including vaccines, hand hygiene, microbes, personal protective equipment, waste management, and cleaning/disinfection.

Modules:

• Introduction to Infection Prevention and Control
• Viruses and Bacteria
• Vaccines
• Hand Hygiene
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
• Microbes and Isolation
• Cleaning and Disinfection 
• Waste Management