The National Projects (NP) of RCSI Bahrain held a Hand Hygiene Workshop HY5 on May 5, 2011. Surveys were given to staff and students at RCSI Bahrain and in return they received a complementary Dettol hand sanitizer. This workshop was held to increase awareness of the importance and effectiveness of hand hygiene. Promoting hand hygiene will reduce infections and the spread of diseases in schools and communities of Bahrain.
NP has been a club and society of RCSI Bahrain since October 2010 with affiliations with the Arabian Gulf University, which is collectively referred to as the International Federation of Medical Students Association of Bahrain (IFMSA-Bahrain). The International Federation of Medical Students Association (IFMSA) is one of the largest and most important student organizations, bringing together over 1.2 million medical students from 102 National Member Organizations worldwide. As an organisation run by medical students, for medical students, we are very proud of the fantastic achievements we have made, through the joint efforts of medical students from different cultural, religious or social backgrounds. With over 800 medical students will be attending International medical conferences as part of its 2011 programme. We have the opportunity to develop communication, leadership, public speaking, advocacy and many more skills at the medical conferences. said NP Bahrain President Vanitha Perinparajah
The Hand Hygiene event is a transnational project in which other Middle East countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt and Sudan participated with Bahrain on May 5. The five aims of the event were:
-to increase awareness of hand hygiene
-to reduce infections
-to teach the correct way to wash hands (how and when)
-to provide medical & nursing students more clinical information
-to train medical & nursing students
About 300 questionnaires were given to the staff and students so they would interact with the team of NP and explore some of the facts and myths of hand hygiene. The early results were interesting. A total of 93% used sanitizers and 64% use water and soap as their main way of washing their hands. More than 90% of the participants know how to wash their hands properly and 28% of them spend at least 20 seconds in the process.
Summarising the event Ms. Perinparajah stated, It was an interactive event amongst the student bodies of RCSI Bahrain. We intend to hold the HY5 Hand Hygiene event annually to show that RCSI Bahrain is in compliance with the Millennium Development Goals!