A Reflective Account on Importance of Hand Hygiene in Healthcare

Running head: A REFLECTIVE ACCOUNT
A reflective account
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1A REFLECTIVE ACCOUNT
Description
During the second year of my collage, my placement was in the XYZ care home, a reknowned
care home for elderly people in UK. I was appointed as an assistant care giver. I was working
under the supervision of Mr Patrick, who was 56 years old, highly experienced Senior Heath care
provider. Under his supervision, I was taking care of Mr. Holms who was a new resident of the
mentioned care home. Mr. Holmes had gone through a major abdominal surgery and needed
regular dressing of his wound. My mentor instructed me to remove the service user's wound
dressing so that the senior care giver can assess him during his ward round. As being taught to
me, I used the non-touch procedure to remove Mr. Patrick's wound dressing and cleaned the
wound so that the senior care giver can easily assess it (Gibbs et al. 2013). My mentor requested
me to stay with the service user until the senior care giver arrives. The senior care giver was
checking other service users and to my utter surprise, I noticed that he came straight to Mr.
Holmes and started checking his wounds without washing his hands or using alcohol gel.
Moreover, I noticed that the senior care giver was wearing a full sleeve shirt and I was concerned
that the cuffs of his shirt could contaminate Mr. Holmes wound. Being a trainee, I was afraid to
speak out my concern to the senior care giver. However, when I gathered the courage to speak
out it was too late and Mr. Holmes since the senior care giver had already completed checking
Mr. Holmes.
Feelings
The above mentioned situation made me highly concerned and alarmed. During my study
period as well during the training, I was taught that washing hands with water or using alcohol
shower gel is one of the most crucial steps that need to be followed before accessing the wound

2A REFLECTIVE ACCOUNT
of a service user (Moon 2013). However, the feeling of intimidation was also there. I felt that
being a second year student, I lack experience. The senior care giver was highly experienced
hence I felt that it will be unethical to speak out my concern in front of Mr. Holmes since it may
create an embarrassing situation for the senior care giver.
However, later, I described the incident to my mentor Mr. Patrick. He assured me that he
would speak to the senior care giver about the issue. I noticed that Mr. Parick took the senior
care giver aside and asked him whether he had properly washed his hands before treating Mr.
Holmes. Considering the fact that the senior care giver was not expecting the question, he was
quite shocked. He stated that since he had a vast number of service users to check, he was unable
to wash hand before assessing the wounds of Mr. Holmes. My mentor, in a very submissive way,
discussed the importance of washing hands before treating any health care user’s wounds to the
senior care giver (Gibbs 2013). After the discussion was over, the senior care giver assured that
he will defiantly wash his hands or use alcohol gel before assessing the wounds of any of his
health care service users in the future.
Evaluation
According to me, the whole incident was highly challenging. The fact that I did not
express my concern during the occurrence of the incident was something that I regretted for a
really long time. Mr. Holmes might have to go through enough sufferings if his wound got
contaminated and I could not help blaming myself responsible for that situation. However, I felt
relieved after my mentor communicated with the senior care giver about the above mentioned
issue and he had assured that he would defiantly change his practice in the future. I also observed
that the senior care giver was washing his hand thoroughly before treating the wound of each