Innovative protection for healthcare workers in critical areas – Viviana Persiani’s blog

In Italy, the public health system is facing the serious problem of infections contracted during hospital stays. The so-called Ica which, in Italy, are more frequent than in other European countries, represent a critical issue …

Innovative protection for healthcare workers in critical areas – Viviana Persiani's blog

In Italy, the public health system is facing the serious problem of infections contracted during hospital stays. The so-called Ica which, in Italy, are more frequent than in other European countries, represent a critical issue that politics is also working to resolve.

On the occasion of the conference entitled: “Protective devices for healthcare workers in critical areas: new technologies”, promoted by the Vice President of the Social Affairs Commission, Hon. Luciano Ciocchetti, in fact, the importance of reducing healthcare-related infections was explored, also through the new and most innovative tools promoted on the market by Italian companies such as those present.

“It is essential to reduce hospital infections. We also have a problem related to the lack of new antibiotics that can combat antimicrobial-resistant infections. We must therefore carry out prevention work also related to the use of medical devices. I have already presented and had approved as an Order of the Day in the Chamber of Deputies, with a favorable opinion from the Government, a document that commits the executive to establish guidelines on the material and all protective medical devices used by healthcare personnel” – This is what was stated by the Hon. Luciano Ciocchetti.

The intervention of the Prof. Alberto Firenze President HCRM (Hospital & Clinical Risk Managers) and Professor at the University of Palermo focuses on the need to undertake a multidisciplinary path: “In 2019, the WHO launched Hand Washing Day. This is the most important indicator of how healthcare-associated infections are a health emergency today. How to deal with it? The pandemic has certainly taught us a lot. So let’s take that result home to determine actions for change that involve multidisciplinarity and the involvement of a system that starts with the Government and then the Regions, the companies of the national health service, to determine rewarding moments, also with sharing within the objectives assigned to individual directors to ensure that good practices and the use of personal protective equipment are an integral part of a system of change, which has the safety of patients and healthcare workers as its central objective”.

The contribution of the Prof. Roberto Lombardi of the Department of Occupational Hygiene Ispesl and Department for Technological Innovations of Inail and Teacher: “Every year we have ten thousand deaths caused by ICA. We must implement all safety measures, including the innovative ones that have recently emerged, and personal protective equipment, especially for operators in critical areas in healthcare, such as jackets and trousers. These are devices that guarantee very important protection for excellent antibacterial and antiviral activities, such as those of the companies present here today. These must be adopted, the legislation provides for it. Now it is up to the implementation by the Regions and the responsible bodies to achieve the desired results.”

“As LCM group – says, Fabio Lencioni, President LCM Trading SpA. – we are the exclusive distributors for Italy of hospital uniforms produced by Erreà. Naturally we are very passionate about this initiative, which, while also having economic implications, deals with healthcare and the prevention of healthcare-related infections, which represent a truly serious problem for Italian healthcare. We are happy to give our contribution”.

Carlo Tagliabue, CEO LCM Trading SpAconcludes: “Thanks to Italian companies like ours and Erreà, which patented the product, we have begun to propose it on the market both from a technical-scientific point of view and from a commercial point of view. We are happy to know that the Government has also committed itself to this issue today, for our part we will commit ourselves as a company to continue and pursue an objective that, in addition to being commercial in nature, has great value from a social-health perspective”. When we talk about health, we never ignore ethics.