Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology Medknow Publications on behalf of Indian Association of Medical Microbiology ISSN: 0255-0857 EISSN: 1998-3646 Vol. 28, Num. 3, 2010, pp. 270-270

Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol. 28, No. 3, July-September, 2010, pp. 270

Correspondence

Comment: Infection control with limited resources: Why and how to make it possible?

S Joshi

Department of Microbiology, Manipal Hospital, 98, Rustom Bagh, Airport Road, Bangalore -560 017, India
Correspondence Address: S Joshi, Department of Microbiology, Manipal Hospital, 98, Rustom Bagh, Airport Road, Bangalore -560 017, India, sangeeta.joshi@manipalhealth.com

Date of Submission: 13-Mar-2009
Date of Acceptance: 29-Apr-2010

Code Number: mb10086

PMID: 20644328
DOI: 10.4103/0255-0857.66485

Dear Editor,

As clearly brought out by the authors, Sarma et al., ^[1] infection control and prevention is an integral part of health care. Including this as a part of the MD microbiology course definitely will help the newer microbiologists to play an active role in hospital infection control programs. The poor compliance of doctors for hand washing may have its roots in a failure to learn this behavior at medical college. In a study by Feather et al. ^[2] on hand washing behavior of final MBBS candidates, handwashing after patient contact was done by less than 20% students. A survey of teaching and learning of health care associated infections in UK and Irish medical schools ^[3] suggested that a curriculum be developed for educating medical students for health care associated infections (HCAI) prevention and control. This would definitely lead to increased awareness among the doctors. It is easier to educate the students early and at an impressionable age so that their basics become sound and simple practices like hand hygiene are part of their routine medical examination habits. Prevention and control HCAI forms a big component of the hospital accreditation process. The various surveillance procedures need to be documented and reviewed while planning for accreditation. With increasing number of hospitals applying for accreditation, the awareness and implementation of infection control practices will definitely improve. We do hope to see a safer hospital environment in India in the coming years.

References

1.	Sarma JB, Ahmed GU. Infection control with limited resources: why and how to make it possible? Indian J Med Microbiol 2010;28:11-6.  Back to cited text no. 1  [PUBMED]
2.	Feather A, Stone SP, Wessier A, Boursicot KA, Pratt C. 'Now please wash your hands': the handwashing behaviour of final MBBS candidates. J Hosp Infect 2000;45:62-4.  Back to cited text no. 2  [PUBMED]  [FULLTEXT]
3.	O'Brien D, Richards J, Walton KE, Phillips MG, Humphreys H. Survey of teaching/learning of healthcare-associates infections in UK and Irish medical schools. J Hosp Infect 2009;73:171-5.  Back to cited text no. 3  [PUBMED]  [FULLTEXT]

Copyright 2010 - Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology