Hand Hygiene Saves Lives: Patient Admission Video

CDC at Work: Water-related Hygiene

The mission of CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) is to protect patients, protect healthcare personnel, and promote safety, quality, and value in the healthcare delivery system.

Protecting patients from the transmission of infectious diseases and from conditions attributable to the care they receive is key to an effective infection prevention and control program. One way DHQP has worked to protect the health of patients is by the creation of the Hand Hygiene Saves Lives Patient Admission Video.

This video, available in English and Spanish, teaches two key points to hospital patients and visitors to help prevent infections: the importance of practicing hand hygiene while in the hospital, and that it is appropriate to ask or remind their healthcare providers to practice hand hygiene as well.

Modeled after the video that airline passengers are required to view prior to take-off on a flight, this new video is intended to be shown to patients upon admission to the hospital. The goal is that the video will inform patients at the beginning of their hospital stay about what they can do to help prevent infections throughout the duration of their stay. Posters and brochures for patients have been developed to accompany the video and reinforce the messages about hand hygiene.

Please visit CDC’s Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Healthcare Settings home page for more information.