Excellence in Hand Hygiene matters is important, especially for countries that have not yet achieved hand hygiene standards. That’s why we contacted Andreea Moldovan (St. Constantin Hospital Romania), who received the Hospital Hygiene Excellence Award in 2015.
Andreea, your hospital was awarded in 2015 (first hospital awarded in the CEE region). What was your/ resp. the hospitals’ motivation to participate at the award?
There were many reasons to participate: First of all the precious feed-back obtained after the evaluation (done in an objective manner and a well-known institution), the fact that we had a proper and competitive endowment, the spirit of competitiveness – and of course – the hope.
What changed in your hospital/ resp. in Romanians hospitals after being awarded?
Concerning my hospital, one can say that we deepened the awareness of the importance of hand hygiene, and we began to offer pro-bono courses for the state and private hospitals in Romania with practical lessons and evaluation of feed-back.
One can definitely say that we have succeeded in improving the quality of the medical act through the increase of hospital hygiene.
The good thing is that with this high bar, we cannot lower the level of hygiene below this standard – it is a guarantee of good hygiene conditions!
Concerning the Romanian hospitals in general, this award had many positive effects – for example the awareness, that this “is available also for my country” and the motivation that “it could happen also to us”. Furthermore, the award activated the spirit of competitiveness. And there were a series of other positive developments. With the support of the Romanian Health Minister and in collaboration with other Romanian hospitals, we succeeded in elaborating a new legislation, that is better than the precedent (but still not the best), concerning the rules and the methods of hand hygiene. The change of culture can be felt. We are going in a good direction.
The goal “spreading the experience countrywide in Romania” succeeded?
Yes, we continued with the organization of national symposia (in collaboration with the University of Medicine Brasov), workshops, theoretical and practical courses and trainings for the medicine students of the university. Most importantly, we are acting as “train the trainers”.
Why is it so important for CEE countries to participate?
Because there is a great lack of knowledge in the field of hand hygiene among medical staff, because there is not yet implemented the culture of hand hygiene (but there is a desire for knowledge and improvement), and because we need evidence-based medicine and competent people to disseminate information.
What could be motivating for them to participate?
The possibility of evaluation, the possibility of improving the quality of medical activity, the pride of recognizing quality (we are very proud people), competitiveness, awareness of the other benefits that arise after application and eventually winning the prize (improving service quality, maintaining the standard, sharing quizzes with other hospitals, etc.) and the relationship building with evocative forces (WHO).
