By Bonifatius Shikusho
WINDHOEK,Oct.11 — Hospitals and clinics are places where hygiene and infection prevention should be treated as a matter of utmost importance. Yet one everyday feature inside many health facilities deserves greater attention: door handles..
Every day, patients, healthcare workers, visitors, and caregivers touch the same handles when entering and leaving consultation rooms, toilets, wards, laboratories, and other areas. The concern becomes even greater when patients are required to handle specimens, such as urine containers, before returning to the facility or laboratory.
A patient may be instructed to collect a urine specimen, carry the container to a designated area, and then move through the facility. During that process, the same hands used to handle the specimen container may also touch doors and other commonly used surfaces.
This raises an important infection-control question: How frequently are high-touch surfaces such as door handles being cleaned and disinfected?
The issue is not about blaming patients. Patients are following instructions given to them by healthcare facilities. The responsibility for maintaining a hygienic environment, therefore, extends beyond individual handwashing—it also includes ensuring that frequently touched surfaces are appropriately cleaned.
Door handles are among the surfaces that can be touched repeatedly throughout the day. If contaminated hands touch a handle, microorganisms may potentially be transferred to that surface and subsequently picked up by another person. This is why hand hygiene and environmental cleaning are both important components of infection prevention.
The concern is particularly significant in healthcare settings because patients may already be vulnerable due to illness. A health facility should, therefore, strive to minimise every avoidable opportunity for the spread of microorganisms.
A CALL FOR GREATER ATTENTION
Health authorities and facility managers should consider whether existing cleaning schedules adequately address high-touch surfaces. Door handles, taps, railings, switches, and other frequently handled surfaces should not become an afterthought in routine cleaning.
Clear procedures could also help patients understand what to do after handling specimen containers. Handwashing facilities or alcohol-based hand sanitiser should be readily accessible, particularly near areas where specimens are collected or submitted.
Healthcare workers and cleaning personnel also have an important role to play in maintaining hygiene standards and educating patients about proper hand hygiene.
PATIENT SAFETY MUST COME FIRST
The concern surrounding hospital and clinic door handles is ultimately about a simple principle: a healthcare facility should not only treat illness; it should also minimise preventable infection risks within its environment.
A clean examination room means little if frequently touched surfaces are overlooked.
This is, therefore, a call for health facilities, infection prevention teams, and relevant authorities to take a closer look at everyday touchpoints and ask a straightforward question:
Are we doing enough to ensure that the surface patients must touch are as safe and hygienic as reasonably possible?
The answer should always be guided by evidence, proper infection control standards, and the protection of patients, healthcare workers, and visitors.
