The team of the Hospital Hygiene Section is responsible for all aspects of hygiene in the hospital and helps to protect patients, visitors and employees from infections. The team is supported by doctors who are responsible for hygiene and nursing staff who are responsible for hygiene in all areas of patient care.
The various tasks of the Hospital Hygiene Section include identifying patients who are colonised with multi-resistant germs or suffer from an infectious disease, providing them with virtual support, defining protective measures and offering information on behaviour in the hospital.
To this end, regular training and information events are organised not only for medical staff, but also for patients and visitors.
In addition, the section has its own accredited hospital hygiene laboratory, in which continuous tests are carried out, e.g. on drinking water and air quality as well as the preparation of medical products.
You can find more information about the Hospital Hygiene Section here.
In hospital, the body's defences are temporarily weakened in many patients due to illness or after an operation. Hygiene is therefore a top priority in order to protect patients from infections that could delay the healing and recovery process.
Even measures such as correct hand disinfection can significantly reduce the risk of transmitting pathogens. The University Hospital is therefore also taking part in the Clean Hands" campaign. At the end of 2017, the "Clean Hands" campaign awarded Ulm University Hospital the bronze certificate for the quality standards introduced and hand disinfection measures consistently implemented. This campaign also aims to motivate patients and visitors to disinfect their hands correctly to prevent germs from having a chance.
You will therefore find dispensers with hand sanitiser plus instructions on how to disinfect your hands correctly at prominent locations in the University Hospital that are also easily accessible to visitors.
If you are acutely ill yourself (cough, cold, diarrhoea), it is best not to visit your relatives at all during this time.
Visitors should always disinfect their hands before entering the ward and the patient's room and afterwards. Additional or different measures may be necessary for patients who are in the intensive care unit or who have certain illnesses. The nursing staff will be happy to provide you with further information.
Hand hygiene information sheet for patients - the 5 moments
Background
The "Clean Hands Campaign" is a national campaign to improve hand disinfection compliance in German healthcare facilities.
It was launched on 1 January 2008 with the support of the Federal Ministry of Health, the National Reference Centre for Surveillance of Nosocomial Infections (NRZ), Aktionsbündnis Patientensicherheit e.V. (APS) and the Gesellschaft für Qualitätsmanagement in der Gesundheitsversorgung e.V. (Society for Quality Management in Healthcare).
Multi-resistant germs: What are they?
Multi-resistant pathogens are no longer sensitive to some basic antibiotics. The best known of these is MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), one of the most common multi-resistant pathogens. This type of bacteria plays an important role as a cause of skin, wound and respiratory tract infections. The mere colonisation with this bacterium is not a problem for the patient.
However, it is possible for these bacteria to enter a wound or the body from the skin or nasal mucosa. This can lead to an infection. It is also possible for these bacteria to be transferred to other people (hospital patients and people with damaged skin) and cause infections there. Visitors to patients colonised with MRSA should observe a few basic rules, which the nursing staff will be happy to explain to you.
Here you will find further information sheets and brochures on various pathogens and how to deal with them:
MRSA information sheet - brochure for patients from the Antibiotic Resistance Network Southwest
Information sheet MRGN from LGA-BW - Information for patients and relatives in German
The Central Sterile Supply Department (CSSD) provides hygienic surgical instruments and other sterile equipment and sterile units at the University Hospital. It prepares medical devices and sterile equipment by cleaning, disinfecting, maintaining, sorting and finally making them available for use again.
Since the beginning of May, surgical instruments and other equipment have been reprocessed centrally at Oberer Eselsberg. Each year, this involves around 65,000 sterile units and around 358,000 medical devices.
Contact person
Priv.- Doz. Dr Thomas Datzmann, MBA
Head of the Operating Theatre Management department
Contact: Phone: 0731 500-43011
E-mail: thomas.datzmann@uniklinik-ulm.de
