Hand Hygiene And Infection Control Safety

Atul Gawande explains the single biggest problem facing hospitals in the spread of infection in his novel, Better. This is expressed in his conversation with the infection control team, where it is said that “their greatest difficulty is getting clinicians like me to do the one thing that consistently halts the spread of infection: wash our hands. (Gawande, 2007, 14)” He notes that diligence, one of his three core requirements for success in medicine, plays a huge role in enforcing a policy like handwashing. While everyone knows hand washing is important, especially in a hospital, letting health care professionals ignore the practice and make their own decisions about its criticality harms the whole population.

Good hand hygiene is the simplest, yet proven strategy to counteract hospital infection. However, the difficulties of achieving good levels of compliance are well noted in the literature. There are several seeming barriers to carry out adequate hand hygiene:

BackgroundInformation|This study examines the implementation of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hand hygiene guidelines and analyzes whether compliance impacts patient outcomes, especially hospital acquired infections (HAI). The correlation of hand hygiene (HH) and HAI is very well described in this study. Rates for HAI were determined both pre and post

There are numerous evidence-based practice interventions that have become standard nursing practices across the country. Hand hygiene is a nursing practice intervention that is currently evidence (research) based. It is one of, if not the most, important interventions practiced in providing standardized care. The rationale behind that statement refers to the high percentage of hospital acquired infections; hand hygiene practices are measures used for maximum effectiveness in reducing the spread of these infections. Compared to the various health care professionals who come in contact with patients when providing care, nurses are by far the largest faction that implements the highest quantity of direct patient care in health care. That said, of all the asepsis precautions, techniques, and interventions that are currently in place, hand hygiene is the single most effective intervention used by nurse to prevent themselves from infection and the cross-infection to their patients. Although this evidence-based intervention is of utmost importance to implement at all times, research shows the difficulty in influencing nurses and other health care professionals to practice hand hygiene as often as recommended.

(McCaughey, 2016). The Center of Disease Control recommends hand washing with vigorous scrubbing for at least 15 seconds with soap and water. Using alcohol based gel hand sanitizer can be an appropriate alternative if soap and water is not readily available but does possess drawbacks including being ineffective against alcohol resistant bacteria. Programs for surveillance have also been implemented in hospitals with the intention of monitoring staff to ensure that policies are being followed to ensure the safety of the patients. Mandated reporting of hospital-specific rates and statistics for healthcare-associated infections has the potential to serve a purpose that could result in bringing down the instance for infection. Being forced to announce to the public infections rates versus other healthcare organizations has the potential for higher administration to implement better policies to assure their good standing in the eye of the

Hospital acquired infections are responsible for more than 90,000 death in the United States (Fox, 2015). Some of these infections include catheter-associated urinary tract infection, central-line associated bloodstream, and ventilator-associated pneumonia. These infections mostly affect those patients with an already compromised immune system (Fox, 2015). Therefore, it is the healthcare provider’s responsibility as well as the patients to prevent spreading of these infections by taking the necessary steps like performing hand hygiene. In a study performed by Fox (2015), nurses taking care of patients in the intensive care unit were asked to wipe the patient’s hands with a 2% chlorhexidine gluconate disinfectant wipe. This product provides

Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs) are infections that are caused by a wide variety of bacteria, fungi, and viruses during the course of receiving medical treatment or surgical procedures in a health care facility. Bacterial contamination on various surfaces in the patient 's environment, such as door handles, tables, intravenous (IV) poles, bed rails, or sinks, can be a source of transmission. Pathogens that cause HAIs - including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Acinetobacter spp., vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus spp. (VRE), and norovirus - can survive on environmental surfaces for days to weeks. Clostridium difficile (CDI) spores may survive on surfaces for months. Treating HAIs has become more difficult as antimicrobial resistance has increased and the number of effective antibiotics has declined. Regular surfaces made of plastic, stainless steel, coated metal, and wood are quickly re-contaminated after cleaning. Studies have shown that fewer than 50% of hospital room surfaces are adequately cleaned when standard chemical disinfectants are used. Similarly, inadequate cleaning of portable medical equipment has also been demonstrated. There is evidence that the risk of hand or glove contamination with antibiotic-resistant organisms is high after contact with the surfaces in a patient 's environment. Furthermore, a lower compliance with

First, reducing the risk of healthcare associated infections is implemented a few different ways. One of the ways is proper hand hygiene, by setting goals to improve the compliance of employees it will aid in lowering the percent of healthcare associated infections. This doesn’t just reduce the risk for infections but it mostly reduces the risk of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. (May 5: Hand Hygiene Day, 2014) About 2 million people in the United States obtain infections that are resistant to antibiotics and over 22,000 people die from these infections every year (May 5: Hand Hygiene Day, 2014). Hand hygiene isn’t just about washing your hands there are other aspects to hand hygiene that are just as important. The Joint Commission has issued specific guidelines that follow hand hygiene and require that organizations are to comply with these guidelines to remain accredited. (Joint Commission, n.d.) Many aspects of hand hygiene that are monitored such as when to wash, how long to wash for, which cleaning agents to use, when it is appropriate to use disposable gloves, and whether or not it is acceptable to wear artificial nails or jewelry. (May 5: Hand Hygiene Day, 2014)

Research shows that Surgical site infections are preventable. According to the CDC, hand hygiene is the simplest approach to preventing the spread of infections and needs to be incorporated into the culture of the organization. Ensuring the use of infection control prevention is an important component of nursing care. Infection control prevention policies must be communicated undoubtedly to all employees. Staffers who do not comply must be re-educated to ensure that all are complying. Speaking up and pointing out that a nurse forgot to wash his or her hands, or notifying the surgical team that surgical instruments were not adequately cleaned may seem like small issues; but at the same time, not acknowledging a break in a sterile technique could mean the difference between life and death for a patient. One hospital that was struggling with high levels of infection related to surgical procedures, implemented a pre-procedure huddle as a team. This innovate way decreased the spread of infection and was a great way to improve the quality of care for patients. As mandated by the Joint commission, infection prevention personnel should provide multidisciplinary education on SSI prevention, to all team members, including

There are innumerable ways in which infections and bacteria can be spread throughout many environments, especially in hospitals settings, this generally occurs as patients are often vulnerable. In this paper, the prevention of bacteria, infections and infection control will be discussed, as an act to hinder the spread of infections using hand hygiene. Strategies to prevent the spread of infection will be also discussed and explored through the use of an example case study of Mrs. Jones.

Healthcare associated infections have an impact on patients - how? Can be prevented greatly with compliance to hand hygiene protocols (REF).

Over the years one of the leading causes of hospital acquired infection has been attributed to the poor hand hygiene. Whether it is due to the fact that healthcare workers are not sanitizing their hands between patients that can lead to cross contamination between patients, between staff and patients, or even staff to staff. Since a majority of hospital associated infections such Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) as are transmitted via contact and can remain on surfaces for up to thirty of more days it is very easy to transmit between patients with ineffective hand hygiene. There should be accessibility to both hand sanitizers as well as handwashing areas which would make it easy for staff, patients, and visitors to follow hand washing protocols. Studies done over the past on health care workers in reference to proper hand hygiene has shown that there is still an at least a fifty percent times in which proper hand hygiene is not performed (Ara, et al., 2016). On a daily basis a health care worker comes into contact of different microbes which are easily transmitted and according to the CDC not following the proper hand hygiene along with adequate solvent is reportedly the number one factor that contributes to HAI’s (CDC, 2015). Healthcare facilities are currently making handwashing more accessible by providing alcohol based hand sanitizers outside of patient’s rooms which are more visible to visitors and staff. Studies have shown several factors that contribute to the lack of proper hand hygiene, knowledge of the spread of infection via contact with contaminated hands, the importance of having solvents such as hand sanitizers being accessible and antibacterial soap, the understanding of the proper method involved in hand washing, understaffing is also a

Recent studies show that at any time, over 1.4 million people worldwide suffer from hospital-acquired infections (Public Health Ontario). In Canada alone, approximately 250 000 patients every year contract infectious micro-organisms from their healthcare providers (Nagel 18). At London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) we take pride in providing world class care in a safe, comfortable environment for patients. However, between 2008 and 2010 the LHSC still had between 20 and 30 per cent non-compliance to proper hand-washing protocol (Nagel 20). This data is very troubling considering it is following the launch of “Just Clean Your Hands” pilot project. As student nurses and volunteers of the LHSC team we are equally responsible to increase hand-washing compliance.

Non-compliance of correct hand hygiene can lead to severe life-threatening diseases (Malliarou, et al, 2013). Hand hygiene is one of the most effective, inexpensive and simplest ways to help prevent the spread of healthcare acquired infections (HCAIs) (Malliarou, et al, 2013). It is often recognised by healthcare professionals that they do not comply with hand hygiene as often as necessary or do not follow the correct techniques due to certain factors such as role modelling/social influences, attitude, self efficacy and also due to time constraints and level of knowledge (Wandel, et al, 2010). The effectiveness of a simple hand wash can often be underestimated by healthcare professionals (Kilpatrick, et al, 2013). Failure to comply with appropriate hand hygiene is considered to be the leading cause od healthcare acquired infections and the spread of multi-resistant organisms (Malliarou, et al, 2013). Understanding the importance and performing hand hygiene at the right time and in the correct manner is absolutely crucial to the preventing of easily avoidable healthcare acquired infections (Kilpatrick, et al, 2013). Hospital acquired infections are closely linked to increased morbidity, mortality, increased costs of healthcare and also prolonged hospital stays (Tan & Olivo, 2015).

Healthcare acquired/associated infections (HAIs) are caused by viral, bacterial, and fungal pathogens. These are infections we can get while we are receiving medical treatment in a healthcare facility. These infections can be serious, but are also very preventable. The most common HAIs are central line-associated bloodstream infections, nosocomial pneumonia, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and surgical site infections. The most frequent mode of transmission of hospital-acquired infections is by direct contact. These infections are very serious and can possibly lead to death, so prevention of these infections are extremely vital. This is why hand washing, wearing gowns, and practicing sterile techniques is so important