Hygiene and Infection Prevention

What does the HIP do for patients?

Patient safety

The HIP does everything it can to ensure that you do not acquire an infection. We do this from the second you arrive at our hospital, right up until the moment you leave.

Hand disinfection

Nurses, doctors, and other employees disinfect their hands with hand sanitizer. In doing so, they kill a large number of microorganisms that live on the hands. They are also not permitted to wear rings, watches, or bracelets in the workplace. Using a hand scanner, we are able to check whether employees have sanitized their hands properly. If necessary, we provide guidance in how this is done properly. We also assess whether employees are actually disinfecting their hands at the appropriate times in practice.

Device is in place which indicates whether employees have properly disinfected their hands.

Preventing the spread of (resistant) bacteria, viruses, or fungi

You may be carrying an illness-causing bacteria, virus, or mold without realizing it. More and more of these bacteria are resistant to certain types of antibiotics and, as a result, cannot be treated. If that is the case in your situation, the HIP will advise you on how we can examine or treat you without enabling the virus or bacteria to spread. For instance, you may be cared for in a separate area from other patients (isolated care).

Reducing the number of hospital infections

We record all infections that occur in our hospital. We also work with the national infection registration system. In doing so, we are able to quickly determine where potential problems may occur, allowing us to address them. In this way, we prevent (outbreaks of) hospital infections. Ultimately, we want to further reduce the number of hospital infections at Radboud university medical center.


For instance, by monitoring contamination on surfaces and equipment in the patient environment.