scholarly journals Hand hygiene compliance in Dutch general practice offices

2020 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nataliya Hilt ◽  
Mariëtte Lokate ◽  
Alfons OldeLoohuis ◽  
Marlies E. J. L. Hulscher ◽  
Alex W. Friedrich ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Hand hygiene (HH) is considered one of the most important measures to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAI). Most studies focus on HH compliance within the hospital setting, whereas little is known for the outpatient setting. The aim of this study was to evaluate compliance with HH recommendations in general practitioners (GPs) office, based on World Health Organization (WHO) guideline. Methods An observational study was conducted at five Dutch GPs-practices in September 2017. We measured HH compliance through direct observation using WHO’s ‘five moments of hand hygiene’ observation tool. All observations were done by one trained professional. Results We monitored a total of 285 HH opportunities for 30 health care workers (HCWs). The overall compliance was 37%. Hand hygiene compliance was 34, 51 and 16% for general practitioners, practice assistants, and nurses, respectively. It varies between 63% after body fluid exposure and no HH performance before-, during and after home visit of a patient (defined as moment 5). The preferred method of HH was soap and water (63%) versus 37% for alcohol-based hand rub (ABHR). The median time of disinfecting hands was 8 s (range 6–11 s) for HCWs in our study. Conclusions HH compliance among HCWs in Dutch GPs was found to be low, especially with regard to home visits. The WHO recommended switch from hand wash to ABHR was not implemented by the majority of HCWs in 5 observed GPs offices.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nataliya Hilt ◽  
Mariëtte Lokate ◽  
Alfons OldeLoohuis ◽  
Marlies EJL Hulscher ◽  
Alex W Friedrich ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Hand hygiene (HH) is considered one of the most important measures to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAI). Most studies focus on HH compliance within the hospital setting, whereas little is known for the outpatient setting. The aim of this study was to evaluate compliance with HH recommendations in general practitioners (GPs) office, based on World Health Organization (WHO) guideline.Methods An observational study was conducted at five Dutch GPs-practices in September 2017. We measured HH compliance through direct observation using WHO’s ‘five moments of hand hygiene’ observation tool. All observations were done by one trained professional.Results We monitored a total of 285 HH opportunities for 30 health care workers (HCWs). The overall compliance was 37%. Hand hygiene compliance was 34%, 51% and 16% for general practitioners, practice assistants, and nurses, respectively. It varies between 63% after body fluid exposure and no HH performance before-, during and after home visit of a patient (defined as moment 5). The preferred method of HH was soap and water (63%) versus 37% for alcohol-based hand rub (ABHR).Conclusions HH compliance among HCWs in Dutch GPs was found to be low, especially with regard to home visits. The WHO recommended switch from hand wash to ABHR was not implemented by the majority of HCWs in 5 observed GPs offices.


2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (18) ◽  
Author(s):  
A P Magiorakos ◽  
E Leens ◽  
V Drouvot ◽  
L May-Michelangeli ◽  
C Reichardt ◽  
...  

Hand hygiene is the most effective way to stop the spread of microorganisms and to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAI). The World Health Organization launched the First Global Patient Safety Challenge - Clean Care is Safer Care - in 2005 with the goal to prevent HAI globally. This year, on 5 May, the WHO’s initiative SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands, which focuses on increasing awareness of and improving compliance with hand hygiene practices, celebrated its second global day. In this article, four Member States of the European Union describe strategies that were implemented as part of their national hand hygiene campaigns and were found to be noteworthy. The strategies were: governmental support, the use of indicators for hand hygiene benchmarking, developing national surveillance systems for auditing alcohol-based hand rub consumption, ensuring seamless coordination of processes between health regions in countries with regionalised healthcare systems, implementing the WHO's My Five Moments for Hand Hygiene, and auditing of hand hygiene compliance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 116-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Jeanes ◽  
J Dick ◽  
P Coen ◽  
N Drey ◽  
DJ Gould

Background: Hand hygiene compliance scores in the anaesthetic department of an acute NHS hospital were persistently low. Aims: To determine the feasibility and validity of regular accurate measurement of HHC in anaesthetics and understand the context of care delivery, barriers and opportunities to improve compliance. Methods: The hand hygiene compliance of one anaesthetist was observed and noted by a senior infection control practitioner (ICP). This was compared to the World Health Organization five moments of hand hygiene and the organisation hand hygiene tool. Findings: In one sequence of 55 min, there were approximately 58 hand hygiene opportunities. The hand hygiene compliance rate was 16%. The frequency and speed of actions in certain periods of care delivery made compliance measurement difficult and potentially unreliable. During several activities, taking time to apply alcohol gel or wash hands would have put the patients at significant risk. Discussion: We concluded that hand hygiene compliance monitoring by direct observation was invalid and unreliable in this specialty. It is important that hand hygiene compliance is optimal in anaesthetics particularly before patient contact. Interventions which reduce environmental and patient contamination, such as cleaning the patient and environment, could ensure anaesthetists encounter fewer micro-organisms in this specialty.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-95
Author(s):  
Ajay Kumar Rajbhandari ◽  
Reshu Agrawal Sagtani ◽  
Kedar Prasad Baral

Introductions: Transmission of healthcare associated infections through contaminated hands of healthcare workers are common. This study was designed to explore the existing compliance of hand hygiene among the healthcare workers workings in different level of health care centers of Makwanpur district of Nepal. Methods: This was a cross sectional observational study conducted in Makwanpur district, Nepal, during 2015. Healthcare workers from nine healthcare centers were selected randomly for the study. Standard observation checklists and World Health Organization guidelines on hand hygiene were used to assess the compliance of hand hygiene during patient care. Results: There were 74 participants. Overall compliance for hand washing was 24.25% (range 19.63 to 45.56). Complete steps of hand washing were performed by 38.3% of health care workers. The factors associated for noncompliance were lack of time (29.3%), example set by seniors (20%), absence or inadequate institution protocol (20%) and unfavourable health care setting (> 20%). Conclusions: Overall hand washing compliance rate amongst the healthcare workers in rural health facilities of Nepal were low (24.25%).


2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (23) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Luisa Moro ◽  
Filomena Morsillo ◽  
Simona Nascetti ◽  
Mita Parenti ◽  
Benedetta Allegranzi ◽  
...  

A national hand hygiene promotion campaign based on the World Health Organization (WHO) multimodal, Clean Care is Safer Care campaign was launched in Italy in 2007. One hundred seventy-five hospitals from 14 of 20 Italian regions participated. Data were collected using methods and tools provided by the WHO campaign, translated into Italian. Hand hygiene compliance, ward infrastructure, and healthcare workers’ knowledge and perception of healthcare-associated infections and hand hygiene were evaluated before and after campaign implementation. Compliance data from the 65 hospitals returning complete data for all implementation tools were analysed using a multilevel approach. Overall, hand hygiene compliance increased in the 65 hospitals from 40% to 63% (absolute increase: 23%, 95% confidence interval: 22–24%). A wide variation in hand hygiene compliance among wards was observed; inter-ward variability significantly decreased after campaign implementation and the level of perception was the only item associated with this. Long-term sustainability in 48 of these 65 hospitals was assessed in 2014 using the WHO Hand Hygiene Self-Assessment Framework tool. Of the 48 hospitals, 44 scored in the advanced/intermediate categories of hand hygiene implementation progress. The median hand hygiene compliance achieved at the end of the 2007–2008 campaign appeared to be sustained in 2014.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Se Yoon Park ◽  
Suyeon Park ◽  
Eunjung Lee ◽  
Tae Hyong Kim ◽  
Sungho Won

Abstract We sought to determine the minimum number of observations needed to determine hand hygiene (HH) compliance among healthcare workers. The study was conducted at a referral hospital in South Korea. We retrospectively analyzed the result of HH monitoring from January to December 2018. HH compliance was calculated by dividing the number of observed HH actions by the total number of opportunities. Optimal HH compliance rates were calculated based on adherence to the six-step technique recommended by the World Health Organization. The minimum number of required observations (n) was calculated by the following equation using overall mean value (r), absolute precision (d), and confidence interval (CI) (1-α) [The equation: n ≥ Z2 α/2 * p * (1-p)/d2 ]. We considered ds of 5%, 10%, 20%, and 30%, with CIs of 99%, 95%, and 90%. During the study period, 8,791 HH opportunities among 1,168 healthcare workers were monitored. Mean HH compliance and optimal HH compliance rates were 80.3% and 59.7%, respectively. The minimum number of observations required to determine HH compliance rates ranged from 2 (d: 30%, CI: 90%) to 624 (d: 5%, CI: 99%), and that for optimal HH compliance ranged from 5 (d: 30%, CI: 90%) to 642 (d: 5%, CI: 99%). We found that at least five observations were needed to determine optimal HH compliance with 30% absolute precision and a 90% CI.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (S1) ◽  
pp. s64-s64
Author(s):  
Se Yoon Park ◽  
Eunjung Lee ◽  
Suyeon Park ◽  
Tae Hyong Kim ◽  
Sungho Won

Background: We sought to determine the minimum number of observations needed to determine hand hygiene (HH) compliance among healthcare workers. Methods: The study was conducted at a referral hospital. We retrospectively analyzed the result of HH monitoring from January to December 2018. HH compliance was calculated by dividing the number of observed HH actions by the total number of opportunities. Appropriate HH compliance rates were calculated based on the 6-step technique, modified from the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation. The minimum number of required observations (n) was calculated by the following equation using overall mean value (r), absolute precision (d), and confidence interval (1-α) [The equation: n3 Zα/22×ρ×1-ρ/d2]. We considered ds of 5%, 10%, 20%, and 30%, with CIs of 99%, 95%, and 90%, respectively. Among the various cases, we focused on 10% for d and 95% for CI. Results: During the study period, 8,791 opportunities among 1,168 healthcare workers were monitored. The mean HH compliance and appropriate HH compliance rates were 80.3% and 59.7%, respectively (Table 1). The minimum number of observations required to determine HH compliance rates ranged from 2 (d, 30%; CI, 90%) to 624 (d, 5%; CI, 99%), and the minimum number of observations for optimal HH compliance ranged from 5 (d, 30%, CI, 90%) to 642 (d, 5%; CI, 99%) (Figure 1). At 10% absolute precision with 95% confidence, the minimum number of observations to determine HH and optimal HH compliance were 61 and 92, respectively. Conclusions: The minimum number of observations to determine HH compliance varies widely according to setting, but at least 5 were needed to determine optimal HH compliance.Funding: NoDisclosures: None


J ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 794-802
Author(s):  
Ines Moued ◽  
Rawand M. Haweizy ◽  
Lawand S. Miran ◽  
Mustafa G. Mohammed ◽  
Johan von Schreeb ◽  
...  

Healthcare-associated infections, commonly caused by poor hand hygiene, represent a significant source of disease and economic burden for healthcare systems, especially those in resource-limited settings. The few existing studies on hand hygiene compliance in resource-limited hospital settings suggest that compliance is insufficient. The difference in compliance rates between units in resource-limited trauma hospitals is largely unknown. We aimed to assess hand hygiene compliance rates among healthcare workers at a trauma hospital in Iraqi Kurdistan and compare the levels of compliance between the emergency room (ER), the intensive care unit (ICU), and the acute care ward (ACW). We carried out overt observations in 2018 using the validated World Health Organization ‘five moments for hand hygiene’ observational tool. We observed a total of 622 hand hygiene opportunities performed by 149 healthcare workers. Hand hygiene compliance was defined as handwashing with soap and water or the use of alcohol-based hand rub, in accordance with the ‘five moments for hand hygiene’ concept. Overall, the hand hygiene compliance rate was found to be 6.8% (95% confidence interval 5.0–9.1). Compliance was significantly lower in the ER (1.0%), compared with the ICU (8.1%) (p = 0.0012), and the ACW (11.1%) (p < 0.0001). In all three units, the availability of alcohol-based hand rub and handwashing sinks was insufficient in relation to the number of patient beds. We conclude that the overall level of hand hygiene compliance was low, with the lowest level of compliance in the ER. Our findings call for improved resource allocation and strengthened hand hygiene routines. These relatively simple measures could potentially lower the incidence of healthcare-associated infections and improve the mortality and morbidity of patients in already overburdened healthcare systems.


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