Hand Hygiene Has Been An Issue That Needed Enhancement

Hand hygiene practices are important thing to infection prevention and control practice. As health provider especially ED staff or front liner, to follow hand washing protocols is necessary in any situation. According Practice Standard (2009) four major elements to preventing practice; hand washing, protective barriers, care of equipment and health practice of nurse. Cite from Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland, scientists has found around 45% of infections can be prevented by washing hands regularly. MOH (2010) increasing in hand-washing compliance by

Follow Hand Hygiene measures set by the CDC and WHO: Using the CDC and WHO guidelines to improve proper hand hygiene. This will reduce the health care related infections and reduce the transmission of disease from staff to patients (The Joint Commission, 2012)

A campaign called, “Clean Hands Save Lives” endorsed by the CDC in the year 2015 put an emphasis on five simple steps to avoid or reduce illnesses. The steps are the following and to be carried out in that order: wet, lather, scrub, rinse, and dry (Potter, Perry, Stockert, & Hall, pg. 458). In addition to performing hand hygiene, gloves must also be used when handling any type of specimen. The use of PPE or Personal protective equipment is important as it protects the wearer from any type of injury or infection. (PPE) Healthcare facilities disclose the type of contact precaution outside a patient’s door. For example, a label for Airborne Precautions indicate that a respiratory protection device (N95 respirator) must be worn in order to enter the room and while interacting with the patient. A room with Droplet Precautions requires the use of a mask or respirator. On the other hand, a room with Contact Precautions indicates the use of gloves and gowns, and a room with category Protective Environment requires protection with HEPA filtration, mask, gloves, and gowns (Potter et al., pg 459).

CDCs clean hands count campaign aim to improve healthcare provide adherence to hand hygiene recommendations, address, myths and misperceptions about hand hygiene and empower patients to play a role in their care by asking or reminding healthcare providers to clean their hands and the most germs that cause serious infections in healthcare are spread by people’s action, every patient is at risk of getting an infection while they are being treated for something else, hand hygiene is a great way to prevent infections and healthcare providers clean their hands less than half of the time they should, good hand washing is the first line of defense against the spread of many illness.

Generations of people have considered handwashing a measure of personal hygiene. In 1847, Dr. Semmelweis insisted that healthcare providers wash their hands with disinfecting agents between patients. This early hand hygiene practice resulted in a decrease in mortality rates among hospital patients (CDC, 2002). The CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee published the Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care Settings in 2002 that is based on hand hygiene foundations developed in generation past. In 2014, this guideline is still available online and used as a reference

Prevention strategies of nosocomial infections related to poor hand hygiene include revision of: orientation, training processes, competency assessments, equipment cleaning, handwashing procedures, switching to the use of single-use IV flush vials, adding strategically located waterless hand rubs, defining supervisory expectations, conducting in-services, team trainings, and tracking systems (Infection control related sentinel events, 2003). Potential solutions to noncompliance include: consistent skin protectant application, reduced time required for handwashing, and antiseptic stations at the bedside and room entry points (Boyce, 1999). Hospital administrators must create an organizational atmosphere in which adherence to recommended HH practices are considered an integral part of providing high-quality care (Boyce, 1999). Improvement in infection control

Nurses play a pivotal role in preventing hospital-acquired infections (HAI), not only by ensuring that all aspects of their nursing practice is evidence based, but also through nursing research and patient education.Hand hygiene is widely acknowledged to be the single most important activity for reducing the spread of disease.Personal protective equipment (PPE) is used to protect both yourself and your patient from the risks of cross-infection.Gloves should be worn whenever there might be

The priority nursing diagnosis of hospital acquired infection is risk for any kind of infection. One of the main goals for each patient in the hospital is the patient will remain free of infection as evidence by absence of heat, pain, redness, or swelling in any area of the patient’s body during each nurse’s shift. (care plan book). Frequently hand washing is the best intervention for preventing infection. Hand washing reduces the risk of transmission of pathogens by inhibiting the growth of or killing the microorganisms. (cb)Proper sterile technique during urinary

Reducing the risk of healthcare associated infections can be implemented a few different ways. One way of prevention is proper hand hygiene. By setting this goal to improve the compliance of hand hygiene, employees will ensure a lower percent of healthcare associated infections. This not only reduces the risk for infections but it ultimately 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 important precise steps to follow. The Joint Commission has issued specific guidelines to follow when performing hand hygiene and require organizations to comply with the guidelines to remain accredited. (Joint Commission, n.d.) Many aspects of hand hygiene being monitored are for example 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

There is a serious concern today about healthcare associated infection due to limited or lack hand hygiene. The concern has brought burden to patients, which many times result into additional complication posing a threat to the patient’s wellness process. In some cases, these acquired infection(s) will lead to long hospitalization or rehabilitation stay or re-hospitalization with huge healthcare cost left for patients to pay. One main cause of these infections are as a result of healthcare worker not performing proper hand hygiene before and after care and also in between patients. The healthcare associated infection spread is by direct contact from one healthcare worker’s hands to the patients and from patients to patients. Hand hygiene can be defined as is a “preventive practice to stop the spread of disease. These practices include basic handwashing, using antisepsis to kill germs on hands, and protecting the skin” (Hand hygiene, 2016). To meet to standards of hand hygiene the agents used during this process are: plain soap and water, antimicrobial soap and water and alcohol-base hand sanitizer. With the use of these agents to prevent the spread of infection, proper handwashing technique is considered the optimum practice for clean hands. I chose “Hand

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

* Hand washing is the most important method of preventing the spread of infection by contact (Ayliffe et al 1999). The Nottingham University Trust Policy on Hand Hygiene (2009) states that there are three types of hand hygiene, the first is ‘routine hand hygiene’ which involves the use of soap and water for 15 – 20 seconds or the application of alcohol hand rub until the hand are dry. The second is ‘hand disinfection’ which should be used prior to an aseptic procedure by washing with soap and water and applying alcohol hand rub afterwards. The third is ‘surgical hand washing’ which is the application of a microbial agent to the hands and wrists for two minutes. In addition to which a sterile, disposable brush may be used for the first surgical hand wash of the day although continued use will encourage colonisation of microbes. The third example is the most appropriate to any O.D.P undertaking the surgical role as it is the best way for the surgical team to eliminate transient flora and reduce resident skin flora (World Health Organization 2010). The first and second are important to any O.D.P undertaking any other role within the Operating Department as this is the best way to reduce the transient microbial flora without necessarily affecting the resident skin flora

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:

Health care associated infections (HAI’s) are a infections that patients acquire when they are receiving treatment for other conditions at a healthcare facility. Health care associated infections are a significant issue in the United States and throughout the world but following proper hand hygiene practices is the most effective and least expensive way to prevent HAIs

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.