News ‘Bites’ 6

WASHINGTON, DC, September 21, 1996 — A newly released employee hand washing study finds that worker hand washing is at dangerously low levels in restaurants, groceries, hotels, institutional feeding and health care facilities. In one of the most extensive hand washing studies ever conducted, the Compliance Control Center measured hand washing in restaurant, grocery, institutional food service and health care locations trackingperformance over 1.3 million employee hours.

The findings show that people in these critical public service environments fail to wash despite extensive training on the importance of frequent hand washing in the prevention of cross-contamination and infection. In the hour phase study, measurements using HyGenius,an electronic hand washing verification system made by Compliance Control, Inc. (Forest ville, MD) showed that baseline performance data gathered by the system was then shared with management and employees, hand washing compliance increased by over 380%, achievinglevels categorized to be “good” or “excellent”. Later in the study, when performance feedback was discontinued, employee hand washing practices again fell dangerous levels.

Following a just-released study conducted by the American Society for Microbiology and Bayer Pharmaceutical where researchers found that one third of the general public doesnot wash after using the bathroom, the public-health implications of poor hand washing areat critical levels.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hand washing is the single most important means of preventing the spread of infection. Poor hand washing contributes toan FDA estimated 80 million cases of food poisoning and 10,000 deathseach year. Nosocomial infections (those acquired while under hospital or nursing home care) afflict another 2.4 million people and result in 10,000 annual deaths according to the CDC.

The combined cost to the US health care system is over $24 billion, a “highly preventable” problem according to FDA Commissioner David Kessler. seniors, young children and pregnant women are among the most vulnerable, “These studies, as well as numerousothers published in the most renown medical, health, and quality control journals, indicatean immediate need for compliance improvement in these critical sectors”, according toNoel B. Segal, President of Compliance Control Center. “Ongoing employee measurement and feedback has proven to be the most effective method for sustained performance improvement”.

OREGON / August 30, 2000 — The Marion County Health Department said there areas many as 75 cases of E. coli O157:H7 infections — most of them people who havehad severe diarrhea after eating at a fast-food restaurant where the outbreak appears tohave occurred. Health authorities said the infections started Aug. 14 and Aug. 15. The exact source of the bacteria continues to elude investigators because victims ate a varietyof foods.

Dr. Karen Landers of the Marion County Health Department said she was concernedabout “secondary cases” in which people who did not eat at the restaurant could becomeill from people who had contracted the disease.

Among the infected, “at least three are people who cared for ill individuals who had eatenat the restaurant, “Landers said. “So we’re emphasizing the importance of thoroughhand washing after using the bathroom and before eating or preparing food”.

“Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands,” she said.