Poor hand hygiene caused C diff outbreak that claimed five lives

Courtesy of NursingTimes.net:

Poor hand hygiene has been blamed for a deadly outbreak of C diff which killed two patients and contributed to the deaths of three others.

An internal report into hygiene compliance at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee found that hand hygiene standards had dropped to 85% in the month before the strain of Clostridium difficile (C diff) took hold in the ward.

We'd suggest that hand hygiene compliance in hospitals are impacted by the simple fact that nurses are sick and tired of destroying their skin by applying alcohol-based products to their hands...