The Importance of Hand Hygiene

Hand hygiene is important for the prevention of transmission of microorganisms.

Transmission occurs when hands move from:

• Health care worker to patient
• Health care worker to environment (surroundings)
• Patient to environment (surroundings)
• From environment to patient (when they touch a contaminated surface and then touch their eyes or mouth)

Hand hygiene works because it reduces the number of illness-causing germs on your hands. This helps to break the chain of infection.