Infection control isn’t rocket science. Wash your hands, don’t eat that, keep your finger out of your nose… things you learned in kindergarten go a long way to preventing infections. The basic nature of the core infection control concepts is also a barrier – hand washing isn’t fancy, new or associated with some fancy machine. (There is actually “an app for that,” but it can’t get people to wash their hands, it’s only used for recording whether or not they do.)
“Clean hands save lives” is more than a slogan, it’s a fact. Whether it’s a human, horse, dog or any other species, hands are important sources of bugs that cause infections. That’s why a lot of effort is put into getting people in human and veterinary hospitals to improve hand hygiene compliance; something we know (in large part from Maureen’ s work) isn’t great in veterinary medicine.
On the equine side, here are a couple of new hand hygiene posters – perfect for posting in equine clinics, but also excellent reminders in any barn, boarding facility or competition venue where horses are brought together. More information and resources will be coming soon to the veterinary hand hygiene website. Remember, “Clean hands – Safe Animals“.