5 Moments to do Hand Hygiene

Healthcare professionals handle many patients with different conditions every day. This
means that they encounter various microorganisms which can be easily transmitted from one
person to another. In order to prevent the risk of contaminating other people, healthcare
professionals should practice proper hand hygiene to ensure the health and safety of everyone.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are five critical moments to perform
hand hygiene:

1. Before touching a patient

2. Before doing a procedure
3. After doing a procedure or exposure to bodily fluids
4. After directly touching a patient
5. After touching the surroundings of a patient

Before touching the patient and before doing any of the procedures, healthcare
providers must perform hand hygiene first. This is done to protect the patient from acquiring
the pathogens that may have been picked up by the healthcare provider from the previous
patient. Subsequently, hand hygiene must also be done after doing a procedure, after touching
the patient and after touching the patient’s surroundings especially if there is contact with
bodily fluids. This is not only done to protect the patient from further spread of infection, but
this also protects the healthcare provider and the healthcare surroundings from being
contaminated. Hand hygiene should be done regardless of whether the healthcare provider is
wearing gloves.

References
5 Moments For Hand Hygiene. (n.d.). From Hand Hygiene Australia:
https://www.hha.org.au/hand-hygiene/5-moments-for-hand-hygiene
PROTECTING PATIENTS WITH THE 5 MOMENTS OF HAND HYGIENE. (2018, November 13). From
Deb Med: https://info.debgroup.com/blog/protecting-patients-with-the-5-moments-of-
hand-hygiene