scholarly journals Effectiveness of standard hand hygiene procedure versus use of hand rub in reducing transient bacterial colony from hands of health professionals working in critical care units: Quasi-experimental study

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 138
Author(s):  
AnilKumar Patidar ◽  
Betcy Pappachan ◽  
Anil Sharma
2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thabiso L.A. Bale ◽  
Tendani S. Ramukumba ◽  
Lutendo S. Mudau

Background: Human hands are home to thousands of microorganisms, which may be transmitted to surfaces that the hands come into contact with. When in contact with people who are ailing or have weakened immune systems, some of these microorganisms can cause infections and disease. Correct hand hygiene goes a long way in eradicating these potentially infective microorganisms and forms the cornerstone of infection prevention and control (IPC) within healthcare facilities and beyond. The healthcare industry is constantly challenged by healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and their negative effects on patient safety and clinical outcomes. Hospitals in Pretoria are facing similar challenges posed by HAIs and there is no report available on compliance of healthcare professionals (HCPs) to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) ‘five moments of hand hygiene’. Healthcare professional’s compliance to all of the five moments of hand hygiene, particularly within the patient zone, is crucial in mitigating and reducing the spread of contact-based infections in the healthcare setting.Methods: A quantitative longitudinal design was used in a covert direct observation of HCP compliance to the WHO’s five moments of hand hygiene. The observations were conducted over 4 weeks in three hospitals, covering 25 wards, inclusive of four adult critical care units using the WHO’s ‘five moments of hand hygiene’ observation form.Results: A total of 1906 hand hygiene opportunities were directly observed in three hospitals. Hand hygiene compliance was 17.26% (n = 329). Allied health professionals had higher compliance (23.02%) than medical (19.26%) and nursing professionals (15.76%). The moment before patient contact had the lowest compliance (8.21%) as compared with all other moments.Conclusions: In general, HCPs had low compliance to the five moments of hand hygiene within the patient zone. Allied health professionals had higher compliance than medical and nursing professionals. Compliance in public hospitals was lower than in private hospitals. Critical care units had higher compliance compared to general wards. Healthcare professionals better complied to the moments meant for their safety as compared to those indicated for patient safety.


2021 ◽  
pp. bmjnph-2020-000159
Author(s):  
Lidia Ghirmai Teweldemedhin ◽  
Helen Gebretatyos Amanuel ◽  
Soliana Amanuel Berhe ◽  
Ghidey Gebreyohans ◽  
Zemenfes Tsige ◽  
...  

BackgroundHealthy pregnancy and birth outcomes are greatly influenced by the intake of adequate and balanced nutrition. Pregnant women’s nutritional knowledge and practice have been identified as an important prerequisites for their proper nutritional intake. The antenatal period with the opportunities for regular contact with health professionals appears to be the ideal time and setting to institute the intervention which could maximise pregnant women’s outcome and that of their baby by motivating them to make nutritional changes.ObjectiveTo assess the effect of nutrition education on the appropriate nutritional knowledge and practice of pregnant women.MethodologyA facility-based single-group pre–post quasi-experimental study design was employed in five health facilities providing antenatal care (ANC) service in Asmara on 226 pregnant women. A predesigned and pretested questionnaire was used to collect data regarding nutritional knowledge via interview by trained data collectors during the pretest, immediate post-test and 6 weeks later. The practice was assessed at pre-intervention and 6 weeks later only. Repeated measures analysis of variance and paired t-test were used to make comparisons in knowledge and practice scores, respectively, using SPSS (V.22).ResultsTraining provided to pregnant women resulted in a significant increase on the mean scores of their knowledge from 29.01/47 (SE=0.35) pre-intervention to 42.73/47 (SE=0.24) immediate post-intervention. However, the score declined significantly from immediate after intervention to 6-week follow-up by 1.79 (SE=0.22). Although the score declined, knowledge at 6-week follow-up was still significantly greater than that of pre-intervention (p<0.0001). Health professionals (70.2%) were the primary source of information for pregnant women. The pregnancy-specific dietary practice score at 6-week follow-up (M=13.13/16, SE=0.09) was significantly higher than that of pre-intervention (M=12.55/16, SE=0.16). There was no significant interaction between the categories of demographic characteristics and change in practice and knowledge.ConclusionThis study has shown that the nutrition messages given to pregnant women by trained health professionals using a holistic approach in a sustained manner played a huge role in increasing their knowledge and in introducing positive dietary practices among them. Thus, ANC clinics must play a leading role in coordinating the effort of awareness creation regarding nutrition during pregnancy.


Author(s):  
Lorna Kwai Ping Suen ◽  
Janet Pui Lee Cheung

Early childhood is a formative period during which healthy habits are developed, including proper hand hygiene practices. The aim of this quasi-experimental study was to determine the effectiveness of a 4-week series of educational sessions that consider the cognitive developmental stage of children on increasing their knowledge and promoting hand hygiene practices. The intervention group (n = 33) observed the hand hygiene program, whereas another group served as the waitlist control (n = 20). Creative activities were planned for the illustration of hand hygiene concepts in terms of “right moments”, “right steps”, and “right duration”. Hand sanitizer coverage was evaluated using a hand scanner. After the intervention, the experimental group had higher knowledge level toward hand hygiene than the control group (p < 0.001). Significant improvements in hand hygiene performance at the left palm and dorsum (p < 0.05), right palm (p < 0.05), and overall hand coverage (p < 0.05) were observed in the experimental group. The study demonstrated that the knowledge and proper hand hygiene (HH) practice of children can be positively influenced by the use of an age-appropriate education program. The results of this study have implications for school health educators and parents for promoting HH practices among children at home and at the school level.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 416-421
Author(s):  
Nurul Azmawati Mohamed ◽  
Mohd Dzulkhairi Mohd Rani ◽  
Tengku Zetty Maztura Tengku Jamaluddin ◽  
Zarini Ismail ◽  
Shalinawati Ramli ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 104-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Korhonen ◽  
Anne Vuori ◽  
Anne Lukkari ◽  
Arja Laitinen ◽  
Minna Perälä ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mayra Gonçalves Menegueti ◽  
Fernando Bellissimo-Rodrigues ◽  
Marcia A. Ciol ◽  
Maria Auxiliadora-Martins ◽  
Anibal Basile-Filho ◽  
...  

Abstract Background/Objective. After wearing powdered gloves, healthcare workers (HCW) are supposed to wash their hands instead of using alcohol-based hand-rub (ABHR). Washing hands takes longer than using ABHR, and the use of powdered gloves may be an obstacle to hand-hygiene compliance. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of replacing powdered gloves with powder-free gloves on hand-hygiene compliance among HCW of an intensive care unit (ICU). Methods. A quasi-experimental study was conducted in a general ICU of a tertiary care university hospital in Brazil. From June 1st to July 15th, 2017, all HCW were provided with powdered latex gloves only for all clinical procedures. From July 15th to August 31st, 2017, HCW were provided with nitrile powder-free gloves only. Hand-hygiene compliance was assessed through direct observation, and evaluated according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Hand Hygiene guidelines. We calculated that a sample size of 544 hand hygiene opportunities needed to be observed per period. Data analysis were performed using the STATA SE® version 14, and we compared the individual’s percentage of compliance using the t test for paired data before and after the intervention.Results. Overall, 40 HCW were assessed before and after the introduction of nitrile powder-free gloves, with 1114 and 1139 observations of hand hygiene opportunities, respectively. The proportion of compliance with hand hygiene was 55% (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 51-59%) using powdered latex gloves and 60% (95% CI: 57-63%) using powder-free gloves. The difference in proportions between the two types of gloves was 5.1% (95% CI: 2.5-7.6%, p<0.001).Conclusion. Our data indicate that replacing powdered gloves with powder-free gloves positively influenced hand-hygiene compliance by HCW in an ICU setting.


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