`Grime Scene Investigators' in South Carolina

January 12th, 2015

It is encouraging to see the spontaneous, creative combustion that seems to be occurring everywhere in the area of hand hygiene improvement.

The bane of infection prevention is no longer accepted with unwashed hands thrown in the air. Rather, it being increasingly targeted by infection preventionists emboldened by the recent run of success in the battle against health care associated infections.

Exhibit A today is a blog recently posted by Dixie Roberts, APRN, MPH, Healthcare Associated Infections Coordinator South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control

In 2007, with the knowledge that hand hygiene compliance is directly related to hospital (HAIs), the South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA) launched the first statewide hand hygiene campaign in alignment with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) international hand hygiene campaign, Roberts notes. Among those joining the effort was a group called “Mothers Against Medical Error.” You gotta love it.

“This campaign had to be engaging in order to be successful,” Roberts writes. “We selected the theme “Grime Scene Investigators: South Carolina” (GSI:SC), a parody on the popular television series CSI.”

The bit included sending out a “summons” to hospital infection prevention and marketing departments, calling them in for training in Grime Scene Investigation.

“Each hospital received a GSI:SC kit with everything needed to set up a “grime scene” to create awareness while educating people on proper hand hygiene and its importance,” she notes.