Effective hand hygiene in jails Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Effective hand hygiene in jails - Research Paper Example Prison facilities applying the above intervention are expected to decrease the incidents of skin diseases, and to contain existing skin diseases to current infected patients.   Evidence highlights the fact that hand washing to prevent infection is one of the easiest and cheapest means of preventing and managing infection (Rohde, 2006).   Some of the studies highlight the reduced incidents of infection with the application of hand washing techniques in the prison and the community setting.     The outcome which calls for specific measurement when applying the personal soaps during hand washing is: the rate of skin and other types of infection among prisoners with or without existing skin or other infections.   The measurement can be established by carrying out regular assessment of prisoners and their incidents of skin and other types of infection while incarcerated (Rohde, 2006).   Numbers acquired from the assessment will provide the intervention the much-needed informat ion to establish efficacy in terms of reduced incidents of skin and other infections, as well as contained infection in existing skin disease patients.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The prevention of skin infections in the prison systems is a major issue which boils down to the general infection control and hygiene practices within the system.   Limited water and hygiene supplies for inmates is a crucial determinant in the infection control practices in jails. In many jails.... In many jails, the availability of water supplies is low and often prevents the application of adequate hand hygiene practices (Rohde, 2006). Limited soap supplies, as well as sanitizers also prevent the application of appropriate hand hygiene techniques. As a result, inmates are often unable to wash their hands before and after eating, after doing hard labor, and after performing other activities which may dirty their hands. The probability of ingesting or inhaling bacteria is therefore very high among inmates. Most surfaces would be high sources of bacteria for these inmates, and their hands would easily spread the bacteria to other inmates (Rohde, 2006). Lack of hand hygiene can easily lead to bacterial infections, including skin infections. For which reason, skin infections have a high incidence rate among inmates. These health issues are however, very much preventable. With the application of proper hand hygiene techniques, as well as infection control measures, skin infections, as well as other diseases can be prevented and easily managed. Specific interventions which include the use of proper hand washing techniques, as well as the use of soaps and hand sanitizers are some of these measures which can be implemented in the prison systems (Rohde, 2006). The efficacy of these measures shall be evaluated based on research and studies which have already been carried out in relation to these infection-control measures. This paper shall now consider effective hand hygiene techniques which help prevent the spread of skin infection in jails. It shall critically analyze research and evidence on hand hygiene and the application of such interventions in the prison system. A protocol shall also be formulated based on the results of research