The Standard Issue 4 2022

THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE HANDY GUIDE
TO HAND WASHING AND HEALTHCARE
To add to the care capacity during
the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK,
plans were made to adopt temporary
hospital spaces for those in need
of COVID-19 related treatment;
Nightingale Hospitals.
The inspiration around this name
was no other than Florence
Nightingale, known as the founder
of modern nursing. In addition
to her incredible work on data
analysis of patient needs, education
for the less advantaged in society
and her reformation of Victorian
workhouses, Florence Nightingale
is renowned for her outstanding
work on healthcare cleanliness and
the importance she played in the
increased adoption of hand hygiene.
In the National Standards of
Healthcare Cleanliness, the 50
elements show us that clinical teams
are recommended as the responsible
group for the cleanliness of some
of the elements. Doctors, nurses,
HCAs are all trained in how to give
excellent care to patients, but they
are not, for the most part, trained in
how to clean correctly or effectively.
Whether in healthcare or not, if
anyone is asked to, or is expected to
be responsible for the cleanliness of
an element, it is imperative that they
are effectively trained in how to do
so.
Included in training, but worth
mentioning in its own right is hand
washing! Every talk I attended at
the IPS conference talked about
training in hand hygiene and how
although we seem to be getting
‘back to normal’ in everything
else, we need to continue to drive
education in correct hand hygiene.
Whether you use a UV glow
machine, assessment based training
or virtual training, hand hygiene
education is imperative to the safety
of your cleaning operatives, users
of your facility and even you. Don’t
just believe me, dozens of infection
prevention specialists agree!
It has been a pleasure watching how
healthcare cleaning professionals
and infection control specialists are
starting to shout about the same
important issues in the industry.
Let’s re-boot a Florence Nightingale
movement, real care doesn’t just
mean a comfortable bed and a nice
meal, it means giving the patient
treatment in a clean environment.
The only way we are going to
do that is if all those that are
responsible for the cleanliness of
a facility are trained to clean safely
and effectively.
HOW CAN YOU START?
Why not start by visiting our
virtual training suite?
In line with healthcare practice,
at BICSc we offer healthcare
based units which teach a
candidate to clean in an
effective and safe manner:
▪ 14 BICSc Healthcare
Base Units
▪ 14 BICSc Healthcare
Additional Units
▪ 14 BICSc Healthcare
Specialist Units
In addition to these new
42 Healthcare skills, we offer
Cleanlogic qualifications that are
each certificated within BICSc
standards. This training is not
only applicable to the cleaning
operative, but should be utilised
by all that have responsibility for
the cleanliness of an area.
We even offer A FREE COURSE
in hand hygiene that is certificated,
anyone can do it; cleaning
operatives, doctors, porters, nurses,
administrative assistants and more!
We need to hold up our half of
healthcare! Be the change you
want to see.
#BeBICSc
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