Hand hygiene remains one of the most critical infection prevention strategies in health care. However, common antimicrobial ingredients, such as triclosan and triclocarban, which are used widely in health care for hand hygiene, have also been shown to pose health risks to long-term users. Health care workers can wash or sanitize their hands in a single shift as many as 100 times according to CDC, leading to measurable exposures.
The Food and Drug Administration restricted the use of triclosan and 23 other ingredients in antiseptic washes and rubs for use in health care, effective December 2017.
Practice Greenhealth has developed a Safer Hand Hygiene goal to help health care facilities move away from these chemicals.
Hand hygiene goal
Level 1: Establish baseline and achieve 80% of hand hygiene product spending on products that do not contain triclosan and triclocarban.
Level 2: Establish baseline and achieve 100% of hand hygiene product spending on products that do not contain triclosan and triclocarban.
Practice Greenhealth offers resources to help our members develop goals, policies, and plans for moving away from products that contain chemicals of concern. Our goal is to provide step-by-step resources that will make it simpler for any hospital to design, implement, and measure the success of their chemical reduction efforts.
