Charles Owusu-Aduomi Botchwey; Agartha Afful Boateng; Regina Brown; Francis Acquah; Farrukh Ishaque Saah; Vivian Kruh; Adwoa Otiwaa Ekanem; Yvonne Boatemaa-Yeboah
Abstract
Background: Hand hygiene has been recognized as an upfront yet a vital practice that halts the transmission of nosocomial contagions or healthcare-associated diseases in hospital locations. In healthcare organizations, hand hygiene is an important component of contagion prevention and protects patients' ...
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Background: Hand hygiene has been recognized as an upfront yet a vital practice that halts the transmission of nosocomial contagions or healthcare-associated diseases in hospital locations. In healthcare organizations, hand hygiene is an important component of contagion prevention and protects patients' safety as a low-cost intervention.Objectives: The objective of the present study was to evaluate hand hygiene practices among public health nurses in Trauma and Specialist Hospital and Winneba Municipal Hospital in the Effutu Municipality in the Central Region of Ghana.Methods: This study employed a quantitative approach with a descriptive cross-sectional design. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from 100 respondents through simple random sampling technique. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 21.Results: Findings revealed a low level of knowledge on hand hygiene (45%) among the respondents and a high hand hygiene practice (79%). Most of the respondents always washed their hands immediately after a risk of body fluid exposure (95%) and few always washed their hands before touching a patient (60%). Most of the respondents always rubbed soap on wet hands before rinsing (78%) and few of them always allowed their hands to dry (16%). The barriers which prevented most of the respondents from washing their hands in the health facility were busy work schedules (65%), forgetfulness (61%), lack of hand hygiene resources in the health facility (38%), minimal patient contact (37%) and lack of knowledge on hand hygiene (13%).Conclusion: Respondents in this study exhibited a low level of knowledge on hand hygiene yet, hand hygiene practice among them was found to be somewhat satisfactory. The study recommends that multifaceted and dedicated efforts must be made to rectify the barriers which impede public health nurses from effectively complying with hand hygiene practices in the health facilities.
Humberto Guanche Garcell; Luis Gonzalez Alvarez; Anayka González Valdés; Katerine Cardenas Goulet; Gloria Fresneda Septiem; Francisco Gutierrez García
Abstract
Background: Hand hygiene plays a key role in the prevention of healthcare-associated infection in critical patients. Objective: The current study aimed to evaluate compliance with hand hygiene practices. Methods: An observational and descriptive study was carried out in a 35-bed medical-surgical critical ...
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Background: Hand hygiene plays a key role in the prevention of healthcare-associated infection in critical patients. Objective: The current study aimed to evaluate compliance with hand hygiene practices. Methods: An observational and descriptive study was carried out in a 35-bed medical-surgical critical care unit in La Habana (Cuba) from January 2017 to December 2018. The observational method recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) was used. Results: Overall compliance was 34.2% (5516/16 125), with better compliance among physicians (39%) compared with nurses (31.4%) and ancillary staff (19.5%). Better compliance was observed after patient contact (65.7%) and after contact with patients’ surroundings (42.0%) in comparison with greater focus on patient safety as before patient contact (23.3%) and before an aseptic task (11.4%). Hand washing was performed more frequently than hand rubs. Conclusion: Compliance with hand hygiene practices is low and no improvement in compliance was observed during the study period. This practice is related to the high risk of transmission of healthcare-related infections in critical patients and requires quality improvement interventions.