WHO SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands

WHO SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands

SL: CYH Newsletter
8 March 2012


Dear Colleagues,

In this edition:

Five steps to 5 May - What's YOUR Plan? - Only 3 steps left!
Tools to support you in 5 May 2012 activities
Health-care facility registrations for SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands - Where are we now? What can we achieve together in 2012?

Five steps to 5 May - What's YOUR Plan? - Only 3 steps left!

Here is what WHO is asking you to do in support of the global annual campaign SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands, aimed at maintaining a global profile on the importance of hand hygiene in health care to reduce health care-associated infections and enhance patient safety worldwide. There are five steps in the 2012 call to action heading to 5 May. This month WHO highlights what you could be doing in March.

• January – What's YOUR Plan?: have you used the WHO Hand Hygiene Self-Assessment Framework (HHSAF) to know how your facility is progressing with hand hygiene improvement? If not, use it now as the focus for 5 May is on YOUR Plans, based on your HHSAF results! http://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/hhsa_framework/en/index.html

• February – What's YOUR Plan?: Have you carefully analysed your own WHO HHSAF results? Based on these results, it's now time to plan your actions to improve and sustain hand hygiene! Use the WHO Targeted Action Plan Templates that will be provided shortly to guide YOUR plans!

• March – What's YOUR Plan?: Have you made YOUR facility's plan? Are you discussing and engaging with other key players for success and who can help with your action plan to ensure success? Identify at least one or more actions that can be accomplished by or on 5 May 2012 to show YOUR facility's commitment to improving hand hygiene!

• April – What's YOUR Plan?: Is your targeted plan ready for use now, is everyone engaged in supporting its success? If yes, place your Action Plan on your web pages and share the web site address with savelives@who.int so it can feature on WHO web pages. Are you ready for YOUR 5 May activities/celebrations focused on one or more selected actions from your plan?


• May – What's YOUR Plan?: Celebrate on 5 or 7 May! Involve staff and the facility's leadership in your selected action(s) and/or report their results! If you haven't yet, issue YOUR targeted Action Plan, and progress your facility's hand hygiene improvement now, sharing your web page link featuring your plans with WHO to be featured on their pages.

Tools to support you in 5 May 2012 activities

WHO Template Action Plans are now available on our web pages in English and French; the Spanish version will come shortly. These template action plans strongly link to the WHO Hand Hygiene Self-Assessment Framework. Reviewing your results and mapping these to actions is critical. The template plans facilitate the development of your action plan, by outlining key steps to be taken whether your Framework results are Inadequate/Basic, Intermediate or Advanced/Leadership. The important, simple, yet targeted points will help you to execute plans aimed at further hand hygiene improvements in your health-care facility.

Remember a forthcoming video message from Professor Didier Pittet will be available on our web pages for your country or facility to use in their 5 May activities.

The Spanish version of some additional WHO hand hygiene tools also is now available on the WHO web pages.

New WHO guidance document on hand hygiene in outpatient care

WHO Clean Care is Safer Care is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of a guidance document on the principles and practice of hand hygiene in outpatient care settings. Based on the WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care, the document aims to address specific challenges related to the improvement of hand hygiene and the application of the WHO "My five moments for hand hygiene" approach in such settings. Available evidence on the risk of pathogen transmission by hands is presented in the document, as well as practical examples of care situations, in order to facilitate understanding and optimal compliance with hand hygiene requirements.

WHO invites you to start considering the use of the document on or around 5 May in collaboration with your colleagues involved in outpatient care. The document is planned to be issued by the end of the month and the electronic version will be available on our web site.

Health-care facility registrations for SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands - Where are we now? What can we achieve together in 2012?

WHO has so far secured 14 858 health-care facility registrations in 149 countries.
There are, however, still a number of countries without any registered health-care facilities!
Help WHO get over 155 countries with at least one health-care facility registered by 5 May 2012! Follow the WHO web pages to see how we are progressing with this target.
Have you managed to get one new health-care facility to register for SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands in the last month? Can you get at least one more during March?
Share your plans and activities - sharing is part of global learning. To promote 5 May 2012, we will feature your web pages focused on SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands including your action plans, so please share them with us now! savelives@who.int

Free 2012 WHO teleclass series on infection control

Through the Webber Training system (www.webbertraining.com) you can listen to the recording of the presentation on injection safety made on 7 March 2012. You can also register to attend the next one entitled "Implementing change: The technical & socio-adaptive aspects of preventing catheter-associated urinary tract infection" by S. Saint, Ann Arbour, USA, on 17 April at 12:30 pm (NYT).

Closure of the who framework.survey mailbox

As of mid-March 2012, the email address whoframework.survey@who.int will no longer be active. This follows the closure of the global survey at the end of 2011.

Thank you for your ongoing commitment and support to WHO for SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands; it is nothing without you! Cascade this newsletter or use messages within it to communicate with your colleagues and contacts.


The WHO Patient Safety: Clean Care is Safer Care team

First indigenous midwife

Margaret is originally from Broome, she is the mother of four young children and she has graduated from Curtin University after completing her Bachelor of Science (Midwifery). Congratulations Margaret Martin what an enormous achievement.
Margaret was a committed student from the moment I met her when she commenced her course. I had no doubt then that she would complete her midwifery and I have no doubt now that Margaret will achieve great things for both Aboriginal women and midwifery.

Margaret sees her role of a midwife as important, her aim is to consolidate and gain experience as a midwife and focus on pregnancy care for Aboriginal women and help to make their birthing experiences as positive as possible. Margaret’s ultimate aim is to go back up north and help set up a clinic for Aboriginal women, which could help reduce infant mortality rates and improve the health of mothers, babies and children.
Margaret’s mother Carol Martin (Labor MP) was the first indigenous woman to be voted into an Australian parliament; it seems that Margaret is following in her mother’s footsteps in leading the way forward. Margaret’s philosophy is “anything is possible if you set your mind to it”...... Good luck Margaret... aim high, dreams do come true....

Pauline Costins

The Face of Birth - A teaser

Come and join us at the Health Dept for the viewing of The face of birth..... lets make some changes.....see details on the previous post.

The Face of Birth - 20th March 2012

WA Branch of the ACM is hosting a showing of "The Face of Birth"

Calling all midwives and women who live in WA and would like to see this movie: The Face of Birth will be screened in the theatrette at the Dept of Health - Refreshments will be served prior to viewing.
"Scientific evidence shows that how we are born has a huge impact on our health and happiness - as babies, children and, for some of us - for the rest of our lives.
Home birth mothers believe that they are making the best and safest choice for themselves and their babies. Mainstream medicine in Australia, unlike the UK, thinks otherwise.
This is a film about families that choose to give birth at home, the midwives and health professionals who support them and a system that works against them".

DATE: 20 March 2012

TIME: 1800

COST: $20.00 pre-purchased tickets (internet details coming soon)

Door Tickets - $23.00

PLACE: WA Department of Health
189 Royal St, Perth, WA 6004

RSVP:to confirm attendance for catering and theatrette size please email acmwabranch@gmail.com

RANZCOG - Please give feedback - Collaborative agreement for midwives

RANZCOG has developed a template for Collaborative Maternity Care Agreement between Eligible Midwife and Specialist Obstetrician or General Practice Obstetrician for use by Specialist Obstetricians or GP Obstetricians and Eligible Midwives.

It is very important to give your Feedback.

It is acknowledged that the template agreement will not be suitable for all settings and that not all Obstetricians will wish to enter into a collaborative arrangement, but all comments will be considered.RANZCOG

Please send feedback to Rupert Sherwood by email to ganderson@ranzcog.edu.au or by fax to +61 3 9419 0672.

Sending your response is important, this is how your voice and numbers count, please be proactive, read the document in its entirety... and give your feedback.

Sydney Conference & AGM 2011

life has been so busy that I have finally have time to play catch up with the Sydney conference October 2011 - The conference was action packed in more ways than one: WA had a large contingent, some of us took the opportunity to have extra time off and see the sights of NSW.



What I love about conferences is meeting up with new and old acquaintances across the country.... and the world.



The keynote speakers were remarkable in particular for me was Sheena Byron, whose stories resonated with me.



The new flavour of the conference was the creative arts.... the yarning table was also a highlight of mine, as it gave you the opportunity to stop, relax, knit, sew and talk, chew the fat so to speak....The low of the conference was the small protest relating to 'women's right to choose place of birth no matter what the risk and be supported by a midwife'.... Midwives need to be supported from a regulatory / supervision model to enable us to do this...as legislation currently stands in Australia midwives are not supported to look after anything other than low risk for a homebirth.



The conference dinner was real hoot, red and black was the theme and most of the WA group all wore tiara's.... it was fantastic talking, dancing and meeting new midwives from around the country....a good time was had by all.



The organising committee did a great job... thank you: The next conference will be in Tasmania.....start saving....see you all there.

As much time is passed since the conference there will be a pictorial slide show in lieu of a summary, my apologies for that.

Cheers Pauline

Homebirth Position Statement

My apologies for not posting the new ACM Homebirth Postion Statement earlier; the college has worked very hard to meet the needs of both midwives and women:

The Position Statement on Homebirth Services 2011 has been developed utilising broad consultation and a Review Panel (eligible midwives, privately practising midwives, midwives working in public homebirth models and midwifery academics) considered all submissions. It should be read in conjunction with the Guidance for midwives regarding homebirth services 2011.

Position Statement on Homebirth
Guidance for midwives regarding homebirth 2011
Homebirth literature review

Multidisciplinary Health Symposium "Care of the Diabetic Patient"

Dear Midwife/Nursing colleague, UWA is delighted to be hosting a new, exciting Multidisciplinary Health Symposium on Saturday the 22nd October at the UWA Club. This inaugural event has support from Kim Snowball, Director General of the Health Department who is opening the symposium. The topic ‘Care of the Diabetic Patient’ will include presentations from experts across the spectrum of health professions. This event represents a great opportunity to understand total patient management from all perspectives and strengthen collaboration and develop referral pathways between health care providers. For details about the program and registration or go to: www.biomedchem.uwa.edu.au/cpd/program This program is eligible AHPRA CPD credits. Yours sincerely, Lesley Gregory Assistant Professor UWA CPD Health Program Coordinator The University of Western Australia M315,35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009 UWA CPD Health Quality Education: Quality Outcomes

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ACM Homebirth (interim) Position Statement;

Dear Members,

Please take the time to read and comment on the ACM's interim Homebirth position statement and guidance for privately practicing midwives;

Interim Position Statement on Homebirth

Interim Guidance for privately practising midwives providing midwifery care for a planned homebirth

ACM has requested comment on both the interim position statement and the interim guidance for privately practising midwives by close of business 23rd September 2011.

Send submissions by email to info@midwives.org.au or by post to PO Box 87, Deakin West ACT 2600. Only submissions with identified senders and a return address will be considered.

Homebirth Indemnity insurance exemption extened.

Great news:
Professional Indemnity Insurance Exemption for Independent Privately Practising Midwives
A communique issued by the Australian Health Minister's Council today announced that they have agreed to a further 12 month extension of the exemption to 1 July 2013 while further options are explored with a report back to the next Health Ministers meeting.
For more details click here for the Department of Health and Ageing