Audit of soap usage by a primary care team

摘要

Much discussion has taken place in the medical press recently about the role of handwashing in preventing the transmission of infection in hospital settings. Transmission of infection is also recognised in the primary care setting. Semmelweis showed 150 years ago that if doctors performing necropsies washed their hands before delivering babies a reduction in mortality (from 22% to 3%) due to streptococcal puerperal sepsis could be achieved. Many studies since have confirmed that doctors washing their hands between patients can reduce the rates of healthcare acquired infection. It has become widely accepted that nurses perform better than doctors at this simple measure to prevent cross infection. I was unable to find references to any attempt to quantify this and decided to perform an audit of the consumption of handwash soap from soap dispensers that were situated next to the sinks of members of the primary care team.