Clarinda Regional Health Center Success Story

Our most successful campaign was entitled "Germ Warfare" with a military theme. I heard about it at a national APIC meeting. We had different things for each day, but the most memorable was when National Guard Soldiers in uniform came to our facility and went to each dept and used certain "tactics" (push-ups, etc..) to get the point across about hand washing.

It was fun and our CEO, who was previously in the Army, was speechless for the first time when they interrupted one of his meetings. Luckily, it worked and I didn't get fired. We decorated the hall with a manikin in uniform and had camouflage and signs around the hospital. Attached are some other things which might be helpful.

• "Fight the good fight-wash your hands" was posted in the hallway-(Camouflage paper and tanks, flags etc.. for signs found at a scrap booking store. )
• We took pictures of employee's hands and had a contest on whose hands were whose.
• We also had a contest where each department was encouraged to come up with a "jingle" to sing when washing hands.
• Crossword puzzles,
• Handing out dum-dum suckers "Don't be a dum-dum- wash your hands"
• Have the infection control team bring in their baby pictures and have people guess who they are
• Culturing employee hands spontaneously (with permission :-))
• We also had the local preschool participate by discussing hand hygiene and drawing around their hands on a large poster stating "Clarinda Preschool Washes Their Hands, too". We posted it in our hallway. Many employees had children or grandchildren in that preschool, so it was even more special.

Maggie Brown, RN, BS
Clarinda Regional Health Center







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