Hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers in an accredited tertiary care hospital
Varun Menon
Keywords :
5 moments, compliance, hand hygiene
Citation Information :
Menon V. Hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers in an accredited tertiary care hospital. Indian J Crit Care Med 2014; 18 (10):689-693.
Aim: We are using multimodal technique to improve hand hygiene (HH) compliance among all health care staff for the past 1-year. This cross-sectional observational study was conducted in the surgical ICU to assess adherence to HH among nurses and allied healthcare workers, at the end of the training year.
Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional observational study using direct observation technique. A single observer collected all HH data. During this analysis, 1500 HH opportunities were observed. HH compliance was tested for all 5 moments as per WHO guidelines.
Results: Overall compliance as per WHO Guidelines was 78%. Nurses had an adherence rate of 63%; allied staff adherence was 86.5%. Compliance was 93% after patient contact versus 63% before patient contact. Nurses′compliance before aseptic procedures was lowest at 39%. 92% staff was aware of the facts viz. Diseases prevented by hand washing, ideal duration of HH, reduction of health care associated infections, etc.
Conclusion: After 1-year of aggressive multimodal intervention in improving HH compliance, we have an overall compliance of 78%. It implies that sustained performance and compliance to HH can be ensured by ongoing training. Direct observation remains a widely used, easily reproducible method for monitoring compliance.
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