At Rouge Valley Health System, we are committed to ensuring quality care and patient safety—and that includes practicing good hand hygiene. However, it is not just the people providing health care to patients who need to pay close attention to their hand hygiene. People who visit patients also need to practice good hand hygiene.

What is Hand Hygiene?

Hand hygiene is a combination of the following activities:

• Hand washing: Washing your hands with soap and water, which removes visible soil and helps remove and/or kill microorganisms found on our hands. Download illustrated guide on how to hand wash.

• Hand rubbing: Cleaning your hands with alcohol-based sanitizer, which kills microorganisms found on our hands. Download illustrated guide on how to hand rub.

When to Practice Hand Hygiene

Everyday life

Regular hand hygiene should be a part of your everyday life. Of course, you should wash your hands whenever they are visibly soiled, as well as at these other common moments:

• Before and after handling food;

• Before meals;

• After using the toilet;

• After blowing your nose, sneezing or coughing; and

• After handling commonly shared surfaces and/or objects (i.e. money).

At the hospital

When you are at the hospital, all of the moments listed above are important. Additionally, you should wash your hands or use a hand rub at these two moments:

• Before you enter a patient's room; and

• After you leave a patient's room.

It is very important that you remember to clean your hands at these time. This helps to reduce the introduction of microorganisms into the hospital, and it keeps the patients safe—including the patients who your are visiting. You can find hand sanitizer mounted on the wall outside of patient rooms and throughout our Rouge Valley hospital campuses.

Get More Information

• Check out Rouge Valley's hand hygiene compliance rates.

• Download Patient Guide: How to Speak about Hand Hygiene

• Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care “Just Clean Your Hands”

• Just Clean Your Hands Interactive Website

• Canada's Hand Hygiene Challenge (Safer Healthcare Now!)

• World Health Organization Save Lives: Clean Your Hands Promotional Video