Faculty Opinions recommendation of Conspicuous vs customary location of hand hygiene agent dispensers on alcohol-based hand hygiene product usage in an intensive care unit.

Author(s):  
Julie Storr ◽  
Ronald Jonga
2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (8) ◽  
pp. 796-801 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre R. Marra ◽  
Denis Faria Moura ◽  
Ângela Tavares Paes ◽  
Oscar Fernando Pavão dos Santos ◽  
Michael B. Edmond

Objective.To compare 3 measures of hand hygiene adherence—direct observation, product usage, and electronic counting devices—in an intensive care unit.Design.A 12-week observational study.Setting.A 40-bed medical-surgical intensive care unit at a private tertiary care hospital.Methods.Over a 12-week period, we assessed hand hygiene adherence by 3 different methods: direct observation of practice, collection of data from electronic counters for dispensers of alcohol-based hand rub, and measurement of the amount of product used (alcohol-based hand rub and chlorhexidine).Results.There were 2,249 opportunities for hand hygiene observed, and the overall rate of hand hygiene adherence was 62.3% (representing 1,402 cleansing episodes). A total of 76,389 dispensing episodes were recorded by the electronic devices. The mean number of dispensing episodes per patient-day was 53.8. There was 64.1 mL of alcohol-based hand rub used per patient-day (representing 65.5% of total product used) and 33.8 mL of Chlorhexidine used per patient-day (representing 34.5%). There was no significant correlation between observed hand hygiene adherence and total product used per patient-day (r = 0.18; P = .59).Conclusions.Direct observation cannot be considered the gold standard for assessing hand hygiene, because there was no relationship between the observed adherence and the number of dispensing episodes or the volume of product used. Other means to monitor hand hygiene adherence, such as electronic devices and measurement of product usage, should be considered.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 408-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arunava Biswas ◽  
Sangeeta Das Bhattacharya ◽  
Arun Kumarendu Singh ◽  
Mallika Saha

Abstract Objective Our goal for this study was to quantify healthcare provider compliance with hand hygiene protocols and develop a conceptual framework for increasing hand hygiene compliance in a low-resource neonatal intensive care unit. Materials and Methods We developed a 3-phase intervention that involved departmental discussion, audit, and follow-up action. A 4-month unobtrusive audit during night and day shifts was performed. The audit results were presented, and a conceptual framework of barriers to and solutions for increasing hand hygiene compliance was developed collectively. Results A total of 1308 hand hygiene opportunities were observed. Among 1227 planned patient contacts, hand-washing events (707 [58.6%]), hand rub events (442 [36%]), and missed hand hygiene (78 [6.4%]) events were observed. The missed hand hygiene rate was 20% during resuscitation. Missed hand hygiene opportunities occurred 3.2 times (95% confidence interval, 1.9–5.3 times) more often during resuscitation procedures than during planned contact and 6.14 times (95% confidence interval, 2.36–16.01 times) more often when providers moved between patients. Structural and process determinants of hand hygiene noncompliance were identified through a root-cause analysis in which all members of the neonatal intensive care unit team participated. The mean hand-washing duration was 40 seconds. In 83% of cases, drying hands after washing was neglected. Hand recontamination after hand-washing was seen in 77% of the cases. Washing up to elbow level was observed in 27% of hand-wash events. After departmental review of the study results, hand rubs were placed at each bassinet to address these missed opportunities. Conclusions Hand hygiene was suboptimal during resuscitation procedures and between patient contacts. We developed a conceptual framework for improving hand hygiene through a root-cause analysis.


2012 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 169-170
Author(s):  
Matthew D. Koff ◽  
Howard L. Corwin ◽  
Michael L. Beach ◽  
Steven D. Surgenor ◽  
Randy W. Loftus

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dikeledi Carol Sebola ◽  
Charlie Boucher ◽  
Caroline Maslo ◽  
Daniel Nenene Qekwana

Abstract Hand hygiene compliance remains the cornerstone of infection prevention and control (IPC) in healthcare facilities. However, there is a paucity of information on the level of IPC in veterinary health care facilities in South Africa. Therefore, this study evaluated hand hygiene compliance of healthcare workers and visitors in the intensive care unit (ICU) at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital (OVAH). Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among healthcare workers (HCWs) and visitors in the ICU using the infection control assessment tool (ICAT) as stipulated by the South African National Department of Health. Direct observations using the “five hand hygiene moments” criteria as set out by the World helath Organisation were also recorded. The level of compliance and a 95% confidence interval were calculated for all variables. Results: Individual bottles of alcohol-based hand-rub solution and hand-wash basins with running water, soap dispensers, and paper towels were easily accessible and available at all times in the ICU. In total, 296 observations consisting of 734 hand hygiene opportunities were recorded. Hand hygiene compliance was also evaluated during invasive (51.4%) and non-invasive (48.6%) procedures. The overall hand hygiene compliance was 24.3% (178/734). In between patients, most HCWs did not sanitize stethoscopes, leashes, and cellular phones used. Additionally, the majority of HCWs wore jewellery below the elbows. The most common method of hand hygiene was hand-rub (58.4%), followed by hand-wash (41.6%). Nurses had a higher (44%) level of compliance compared to students (22%) and clinicians (15%). Compliance was also higher after body fluid exposure (42%) compared to after patient contact (32%), before patient contact (19%), after contact with patient surroundings (16%), and before an aseptic procedure (15%). Conclusion: Hand hygiene compliance in this study was low, raising concerns of potential transmission of hospital-acquired infections and zoonoses in the ICU. Therefore, it is essential that educational programs be developed to address the low level of hand hygiene in this study.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Li ◽  
Hai Ge ◽  
Hui Zhou ◽  
Wanqing Zhou ◽  
Jie Zheng ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective: To continuously evaluate the effect of environmental cleaning on the colonization and infection rates of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDR-AB) in the patients within an intensive care unit (ICU). Methods: Environmental cleaning on the high-touch clinical surfaces (HTCS) within a comprehensive ICU was evaluated through monitoring fluorescent marks when the overall compliance with hand hygiene during 2013-2014 was monitored. Meanwhile, samples from the HTCS and inpatients were collected and sent for bacterial culture and identification. The drug susceptibility testing was further implemented to monitor the prevalence of MDR-AB. The genetic relatedness of MDR-AB collected either from the HTCS or inpatients was analyzed by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) when an outbreak was doubted. Results: The overall compliance with hand hygiene remained relatively stable during 2013-2014. Under this circumstance, the clearance rate of fluorescence marks on the environmental surfaces within ICUs significantly increased from 21.9% to 85.7%, and accordingly the colonization and infection rates of MDR-AB decreased from 16.5‰ to 6.6‰ and from 7.4‰ to 2.8‰, respectively, from the beginning to the end of 2013. However, during the year 2014, because of frequent change and movement of cleaning workers, the clearance rate of fluorescence marks decreased below 50%, and the overall colonization and infection rates of MDR-AB correspondingly increased from 9.1‰ to 11.1‰ and from 1.5‰ to 3.9‰, respectively. PFGE displayed a high genetic relatedness between the MDR-AB strains analyzed, indicating a dissemination of MDR-AB during the surveillance period. Conclusion. For the easily disseminated MDR-AB within ICUs , the clearance rates of fluorescence labeling on HTCS is negatively corelated with the hospital infection rates of MDR-AB. Such an invisible fluorescence labelling is an effective and convenient method to continuously monitor cleanness of medical environment within hospitals.


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