One very important part of your child's return to health is avoiding infections.

At every hospital, there is the possibility of developing an infection. While the Hurley physicians, nurses and medical staff will make every effort to help prevent infections, your child and your family's participation in this effort is critical. The single most important thing all of you can do to help prevent infections is to wash your hands. Make sure that everyone who touches your child—your family, friends, and your child's doctors and nurses—washes their hands:

1. After touching anything in the hospital room
2. Before eating
3. After using the restroom

It is also important that your healthcare providers wash their hands—with either soap and water or with an alcohol-based hand cleaner—before and after they touch your child, even if their visit or examination is brief. Healthcare providers know they must practice hand hygiene, but sometimes they forget. You and your family should not be afraid or embarrassed to speak up and ask them to wash their hands.

Washing your hands correctly is absolutely critical

Wash your hands with soap and water for 15-20 seconds before rinsing. That’s about the amount of time it takes to sing the song “Happy Birthday” twice, or to recite the A-Z alphabet once.

If you don’t have soap and water, alcohol-based hand cleaners are just as effective in killing germs. To use these cleaners, apply the cleaner to the palm of your hand and rub your hands together. Keep rubbing over all the surfaces of your fingers and hands until they are dry.