Online tool to improve environmental hygiene Clean Hospitals: FORUM The pilot study was conducted with the previous version of the tool in 51 healthcare facilities in 35 countries and showed that there is a significant need for increased focus on hospital cleaning and investment in programmes [3]. While the previous version of the tool was only available to the facilities that participated in the study, the official version is now available to everyone at https://redcap.link/HEHSAF on the secure REDCap platform. Interested IPC specialists can complete and analyse the questionnaire online and compare their Healthcare Environmental Hygiene (HEH) score with national and international averages of other healthcare facilities [4]. References 1. https://cleanhospitals.com/the-organization/about-us/ (accessed on 19.02.2024) 2. https://cleanhospitals.com/hehsaf/ (accessed on 19.02.2024) 3. Peters A et al. (2022): Am J Infect Control 50: 1302-1310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2022.02.029 4. https://cleanhospitals.com/hehsaf/check-heh-score/ (accessed on 19.02.2024) Draft standard for virucidal testing converted into a valid standard EN 17430: EN 17430 [1] describes a phase 2/level 2 test method that simulates practical conditions and investigates whether a hand disinfectant to be tested inactivates murine norovirus on artificially contaminated hands of volunteers. While the prEN 17430 interim standard has been in existence since 2019, it was converted into a draft standard in 2022. This year the time has finally come: EN 17430 has achieved the status of a valid standard. Manufacturers of hygienic hand disinfection products are now recommended to test their products according to EN 17430 if they are declared as virucidal. We at HARTMANN are prepared: Our hand disinfectants (virucidal/limited virucidal/limited virucidal PLUS) already comply with EN 17430. Users can therefore be sure that the efficacy of all products has been tested in accordance with the latest recommendations. More about our products for hand disinfection: https://corporate.hartmann.info/en/who-we-are/ infection-management Reference 1. https://www.beuth.de/de/norm-entwurf/din-en-17430/355636853 (accessed on 23.02.2024) The international Centre of Excellence in Public Health Clean Hospitals (https://cleanhospitals.com/) has been working for several years to make hospitals cleaner and safer places for patients and staff [1]. The campaign‘s activities are based primarily on the generation of scientific evidence, the exchange of information and the development of training courses and tools. As part of the campaign, the online tool Healthcare Environmental Hygiene Self-Assessment Framework (HEHSAF) has been developed, aimed primarily at infection prevention and control (IPC) experts. It is designed to help healthcare facilities identify areas for improvement in their hospital hygiene programme and to assess improvement over time [2]. KNOWLEDGE 30
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