“Many HAIs (healthcare-associated infections) are transmitted by healthcare personnel, and hand hygiene is a primary means to reduce these infections.” – Health Research & Education Trust, affiliate of the American Hospital Association

Hand hygiene noncompliance is a major contributor to the spread of HAIs. It’s also one of the easiest practices to improve. Symmetry’s goal is to provide products that healthcare workers want to use. With reliable dispensers and better products, healthcare workers are more likely to follow hand hygiene compliance policies.

Symmetry products are less likely to contribute to dry hands or leave sticky residue behind. Through clinical evaluation, Symmetry consistently proves to be the preferred choice of healthcare workers. Because Symmetry provides products that healthcare workers prefer, workers are more likely to clean their hands and help reduce the spread of germs.

To keep hand hygiene on the minds of staff, visitors, and patients, Symmetry offers the Symmetry Behavior Modification System (SBMS). SBMS utilizes behavioral science to drive hand hygiene compliance. With unique tools based on the six key tenets of benevolence, accountability, responsibility, variation, emotion, and direction, SBMS inspires immediate hand hygiene practices.

Symmetry also uses point of care tools to focus on the five moments for hand hygiene. The five moments for hand hygiene approach defines key moments when healthcare workers should perform hand hygiene. Symmetry’s point of care tools include suction cups, lanyards, and cart brackets to give healthcare workers easy access to hand hygiene opportunities while working directly with patients. 

The tools of the Symmetry® Hand Hygiene Program make it easier for healthcare workers to access Symmetry products. They keep hand hygiene on the minds of people throughout healthcare facilities and help convey the importance of hand hygiene. Contact your local Buckeye representative for more information on how Symmetry can help healthcare facilities fight HAIs.

As the importance of hand hygiene has grown during the COVID-19 pandemic, establishing a complete hand hygiene program in your facility can help provide peace of mind and reduce the spread of germs. The Symmetry Behavior Modification System (SBMS) is part of what makes the Symmetry^® Hand Hygiene Program unique. While other hand hygiene lines simply provide products, Symmetry works to develop a complete program that inspires better hand hygiene practices. Behavioral science has been key to developing tools any facility can use to encourage users to keep their hands clean.

Many major manufacturers employ people with PhDs in Behavioral Science to identify and capitalize on various stimuli that influence our behavior and, ultimately, lead us to purchasing their products. Behavioral science is behind the strategic placement of candy in checkout lanes at stores. Children can easily spot and grab candy while waiting for their parents to checkout. Once a candy bar is in a child’s hands, the likelihood that it will be purchased goes up significantly.

Symmetry worked with Dr. Adam Alter to discover ways behavioral science could be used to promote better hand hygiene. Dr. Alter has a PhD in Behavioral Science and is the New York Times best-selling author of Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces that Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave. Together, Symmetry and Dr. Alter created the Symmetry Behavior Modification System.

Unlike negative motivators, SBMS is based on six key tenets that offer a positive approach designed to inspire. Symmetry’s six tenets are benevolence, responsibility, accountability, variation, emotion, and direction. Each tenet offers a unique way to drive compliance.

Symmetry’s Behavior Modification tools include variety in dispensers. Symmetry dispensers come in various colors and can even be customized with your facility’s logo and colors. Dispensers can also be fitted with Visual Lighting Cues (VLCS). VLCS flash periodically to draw attention to dispensers and encourage an immediate hand hygiene event.

In addition to attention-drawing dispensers, Symmetry provides Behavior Modification placards. These cards sit atop dispensers and are customized with inspiring messages like, “Support Healthy Hands. It Only Takes 20 Seconds.” They are designed to be placed on dispensers throughout a facility to provide variation. The more variation in dispensers, the more likely it is that a user will notice an opportunity to sanitize or wash hands.

Finally, Symmetry provides floor decals in the shape of Happy Feet Biscuit Paws (a reference to the Symmetry Hand Hygiene Program’s mascot Biscuit, the Paw Washing Dog), or custom options. Floor decals can be used to guide users towards dispensers and drive hand hygiene practices.

These added features can mean the difference between an effective hand hygiene program and an average hand hygiene program. The impact of COVID-19 has driven a need for hand hygiene products, but providing high quality products is just part of improving hand hygiene practices in any facility. Symmetry takes their program one step further by providing behavior modification tools to encourage users to take advantage of the high-quality hand hygiene products they have available to them. To find out how Symmetry can customize their Behavior Modification System to fit your facility, contact your local Buckeye representative.

Dry skin is an unfortunate side-effect of the winter months. Once the heat is turned on indoors, your skin begins to dry out. For healthcare facilities, this issue is only magnified. Frequent handwashing and hand sanitizing can cause the skin on healthcare workers’ hands to dry out regardless of the season. During the winter months when skin is prone to flaking, finding a solution for those workers who frequently wash their hands is important.

The Symmetry^® Hand Hygiene Program provides products that are gentle on healthcare workers’ skin without compromising performance. They reduce common disease-causing bacteria with comprehensive product testing data. When Symmetry products are tested against competitive hand hygiene products in a Symmetry Challenge, respondents overwhelmingly prefer Symmetry.

Symmetry hand hygiene products include hand washes and hand sanitizers. Choose between scented and unscented options or select one of Symmetry’s Green Seal^™ certified hand hygiene products. Because Symmetry is focused on the comfort of its users, Symmetry also provides Moisturizing Hand Lotion to moisturize, condition, and alleviate dry hands.

Beyond hand hygiene products, washing hands with warm water instead of hot water can also help protect the skin from dryness. Both the CDC and World Health Organization (WHO) advocate using warm water instead of hot water in their hand hygiene guidelines to protect skin. WHO also recommends patting hands drying rather than rubbing to help prevent cracking.

No matter the season, hand hygiene is important in healthcare facilities and beyond. For schools, retail facilities and more, looking for gentle hand hygiene products, contact your local Buckeye representative.

Creating a welcoming environment for visitors of your community or recreational center can be a difference-maker for your facility. The best way to do this is by keeping your facility clean. Cleaning and disinfecting properly and regularly also keeps unwanted bacteria away, helping to keep your members and guests healthy.

An effective cleaning program can keep your facility looking its best. For community and recreational centers, Buckeye incorporates multi-purpose products that reduce labor, easy-to-follow procedures, and the resources you need to make your recreational center stand out.

Each of Buckeye’s programs comes with the products and training to keep all aspects of your facility clean. From general cleaning and disinfecting to restroom, locker room, and shower cleaning, Buckeye provides all the tools you’ll need. Additionally, Buckeye provides information on product safety with SDS and literature sheets, as well as proper procedures.

Buckeye’s programs include the Eco^® Proportioning Program for cleaning, the Hard Floor Care Program, and the Reflections^® Wood Floor Program. Buckeye also provides the Symmetry^® Hand Hygiene Program to help guests stay clean and healthy during their time at your recreational or community center.

With routine, interim, and restorative cleaning procedures, your staff will be prepared for any maintenance issue that arises. The comprehensive training that this program provides includes in-service training, ongoing technical assistance, and customer support. If a problem arises, Buckeye can provide all the tools you’ll need to solve it.

Comprehensive training, standardized procedures, and superior products make Buckeye the perfect fit for any facility. To find out more about how Buckeye programs can be customized to fit the needs of your facility, contact your local Buckeye representative.

Buckeye has been working to reduce the amount of plastic in packaging since they launched the 5-gallon Action Pac^®, “bag-in-a-box” packaging. This package design eliminated plastic pails and their adverse effects on landfills. Since then, Buckeye has spent 31 years continuing to reduce plastic packaging waste.

Today, Buckeye’s Eco^® Proportioning Program uses 1.25-liter bags for products. Because these bags are flexible and contain concentrated products, they reduce the amount of plastic used, resulting in less plastic going to the landfill. In comparison to a rigid 2.5-liter container, Eco bags use 83% less plastic for identical amounts of concentrated chemistry. Additionally, Eco’s 1.25-liter bags virtually eliminate product waste by providing 99.9% product evacuation. The bag’s hermetic seal means there is no potential for contamination and no risk of workers coming into contact with concentrated chemicals.

Eco 1.25-liter bags are boxed in cartons made from 100% recycled paperboard with a minimum of 35% post-consumer material. The outer packaging for Eco products is made of 41% recycled material. For each ton of outer boxes used, 820 pounds of material is reused.

Buckeye continues to design programs and products that have a minimal impact on the environment. The Symmetry^® Hand Hygiene Program also utilizes flexible packaging that uses less plastic than rigid hand hygiene product containers.

Buckeye’s commitment to sustainability extends beyond its product packaging as well. To learn more about sustainability at Buckeye click here. For more specific information on Buckeye’s programs, contact your local Buckeye representative.

The 5 Moments of Hand Hygiene approach defines key moments when healthcare workers should perform hand hygiene. Washing or sanitizing hands before or after these moments helps protect the patient, workers, and the healthcare environment against the spread of germs.

5 Moments of Hand Hygiene

These moments often occur when a healthcare worker is in direct contact with a patient. For hand hygiene needs during patient contact, the Symmetry^® Hand Hygiene Program provides Point of Care tools. Point of Care tools are strategically placed to provide healthcare workers with hand hygiene options while caring for a patient. They can help reduce the spread of germs by tackling hand hygiene in areas that pose the highest risks.

“The aim of point of care availability is to provide access to hand hygiene products in the ‘patient zone’ – the location where the patient and healthcare personnel and environment intersect.” APIC Implementation Guide: Guide to Hand Hygiene Programs for Infection Prevention

Symmetry Point of Care items include:

*Suction Cups contain Ionpure, an antimicrobial agent approved by the FDA, EPA, and NSF.

In combination with other key features of the Symmetry Hand Hygiene Program like education and awareness tools and behavior modification tools, Symmetry Point of Care tools provide a reminder to healthcare workers about the importance of hand hygiene during key moments. Symmetry’s goal is to provide your facility with all the tools needed to help reduce the spread of germs.

Contact your local representative to find out more about the program and to see how you can improve point of care hand hygiene in your facility.

Studies in behavioral science have shown that using colors, mirrors, floor decals, and other stimuli can influence human behavior. In grocery stores, manufacturers pay retailers to merchandise their products in strategic locations to increase the likelihood that those products will be purchased. Candy bars are strategically placed at the eye level of children to increase the likelihood of purchase. Some manufacturers will provide stores with floor decals that lead to their products.

Many manufacturers employ people with PhDs in Behavioral Science to identify the best way to stimulate a potential customer into making a purchase. The Symmetry Hand Hygiene Program worked with Behavioral Scientist, Dr. Adam Alter, to find out how to increase hand hygiene practices with behavioral science.

Together, Dr. Alter and Symmetry came up with several behavior modification tools based on the six key tenets of benevolence, accountability, responsibility, variation, emotion, and direction. These include dispenser colors, placards, visual lighting cues, and floor decals that can be used in a variety of facilities. The Symmetry placards include messages or mirrors to encourage an immediate response. They are placed directly above a dispenser and can be rotated periodically. Symmetry dispensers can also be fitted with visual lighting cues. These flashing lights are designed to draw attention to dispensers. Floor decals offered by Symmetry can subtly direct individuals to dispensers.

All of these tools are designed to increase proper hand hygiene practices in your facility. They serve as reminders but are not intended to be used for all dispensers. The best way to implement Symmetry behavior modification system is to rotate the tools throughout the facility. This creates variation, changes sight-lines, and continues to capture attention.

The Symmetry Behavior Modification System is just one added benefit of the Symmetry Hand Hygiene Program. Symmetry offers a complete line of hand hygiene products including hand sanitizers and hand washes. Symmetry dispensers are reliable with large sight windows for checking product levels. The program comes with education and awareness tools and everything your facility needs to improve hand hygiene practices.

Contact your local Buckeye representative to find out more about the Symmetry Hand Hygiene Program and the Behavior Modification System.

Buckeye’s Symmetry^® Hand Hygiene Program is more than just its products. Symmetry offers added benefits like education and awareness tools, behavior modification tools, and point of care tools. Symmetry has many customizable features designed to help your facility build healthy hand hygiene practices.

However, the foundation of the Symmetry Hand Hygiene Program lies in its products. Symmetry believes that the key to a good hand hygiene program is manufacturing products that people want to use in a reliable dispensing system. That’s why Symmetry products clean hands without leaving sticky residue behind. Symmetry dispensers don’t drip and have large sight windows for checking product levels.

The best way for the people in your facility to see Symmetry’s products and dispensers is through a Symmetry Challenge. A Symmetry Challenge allows staff members to test Symmetry products and compare them to their current hand hygiene products. Recently a hospital in Cleveland, OH was looking for new hand hygiene products. They chose to conduct a Symmetry Hand Hygiene Challenge in their facility. Staff members had been complaining about their hand hygiene products drying out their hands. With the ability to compare Symmetry to the products they had been using, it was immediately clear that Symmetry products were gentler on their hands. Of the 117 participants, 108 chose Symmetry over their previous products.

A Symmetry Challenge allows you to compare products and dispensers. When participants have the chance to compare Symmetry to other programs, they overwhelmingly choose Symmetry. Beyond comfort, Symmetry products are high quality and low cost. Symmetry hand sanitizers reduce common disease-causing bacteria.

Encouraging proper hand hygiene starts with providing products people want to use. The Symmetry Challenge is the simplest way to evaluate hand hygiene products and begin improving proper hand hygiene practices in your facility. Contact your local Buckeye representative to schedule a Symmetry Challenge today.

Buckeye’s commitment to sustainability encompasses products, packaging, technology and entire maintenance programs. In its hard surface cleaners, Buckeye has proactively eliminated ingredients like butyl, solvents, and alcohol bases. For some products, Buckeye has gone even further. For facilities looking to minimize their impact on the environment, Buckeye offers many Green Seal certified products.

Green Seal develops Environmental Leadership Standards to help manufacturers, purchasers, and consumers make environmentally responsible decisions. Their mission: To transform the economy for a healthier, greener world.

Several products from the Symmetry^® Hand Hygiene Program, Buckeye Hard Floor Care Program, and Eco^® Proportioning Program are Green Seal certified. They include hand hygiene products, floor finishes, and various cleaners. Click here to see a complete list of Buckeye’s Green Seal certified products.

Each product conforms to the strict standards set by Green Seal, meeting the requirements based on effective performance and protective limits on VOCs and human and environmental toxicity. Most of the Eco product line meets additional standards for minimized/recycled packaging.

Buckeye’s commitment to sustainability does not compromise product performance. To achieve Green Seal certification, products must meet rigid performance requirements, the same performance standards met by non-green products. Buckeye’s Green Seal certified products not only outperform other green products, they also outperform non-green, conventional chemistries.

Contact your local Buckeye representative to find out more about Buckeye’s products, programs, and commitment to sustainability.

This week is International Infection Prevention Week (IIPW). The goal of IIPW is to raise awareness of the role infection prevention plays in improving patient safety.

The theme for this year’s IIPW is Protecting Patients Everywhere. With a theme this broad, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control (APIC) is promoting topics ranging from the use of antibiotics to proper hand hygiene. Protecting Patients Everywhere is about protecting patients and others through the continuum of care.

The Symmetry^® Hand Hygiene Program can help you improve infection prevention in your facility. Following proper hand hygiene steps is one of the best ways to help improve patient well-being. Symmetry has all of the hand hygiene tools you’ll need to improve hand hygiene practices in your facility.

Symmetry products reduce common disease-causing bacteria, making them a reliable choice for facilities looking to stop the spread of disease. More than that, Symmetry products are gentle on your hands.

However, having the proper products available in your facility isn’t enough. This is why the Symmetry Hand Hygiene Program comes with tools to help motivate people to keep their hands clean. Its education and awareness tools include things like posters and wall charts, designed to explain the “How” and “Why” of proper hand hygiene. Symmetry also utilizes behavioral science to create unique placards and signs with messages designed to inspire and maximize hand hygiene practices.

For IIPW, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) is focusing on infection prevention throughout the continuum of care. Symmetry provides Point of Care tools for healthcare facility workers to use throughout care for a patient. Suction cups, brackets, and lanyards make it possible to access hand sanitizer while workers are in contact with patients and are at the highest risk of spreading germs.

The Symmetry Hand Hygiene Program is just one of many ways your facility can work to reduce the spread of germs. International Infection Prevention Week happens every third week of October, but infection prevention is a year-round job. Check out all of the tools APIC provides to keep you informed about infection prevention on their website.