Encouraging Hand Hygiene Compliance

Paper Summary:

The paper explores the need for proper education and motivation of the healthcare workers in enforcing hand hygiene compliance. The paper looks at multidisciplinary strategies and their intervention that will help to improve compliance by healthcare workers. The paper also emphasizes how hand hygiene is an inexpensive intervention that can save lives.

Outline:
Introduction
Intervention
Implementation
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"For generations, hand washing with soap and water has been considered a measure of personal hygiene (CDC, 2002). Traditional hand hygiene, such as washing hands before and after contact with patient, is said to be the single most important way of reducing infections (CDC, 2002). An estimated 5% of patients in the United States develop healthcare-associated infection at a cost of 4.5 billion USD per year (Gould, 2007). Numerous studies over the past decade have demonstrated that compliance with recommendations on hand hygiene was poor and interventions were not effective (Teare, 1999). This was beside the report that while about 80% of the direct care patients receive and often involve personal and intimate care activities, most healthcare-associated infection is spread through direct contact, especially via the hands of health workers (Wade, 1995)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2002). Guideline for hand hygiene in health-care settings: Recommendations of the healthcare, morbidity and mortality weekly report, October 25, 2002 / Vol. 51 (p 1-45).
• Girou, E. et al. (2002). "Efficacy of hand rubbing with alcohol based solution versus standard hand washing with antiseptic soap; randomized clinical trial." British Medical Journal, 325, 362-365.
• Gould D.J., Chudleigh J.H., Moralejo D. & Drey, N. (2007). "Interventions to improve hand hygiene compliance in patient care." Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2007, Issue 2, April 18.
• Kampf, G. & Loffler, H. (2003). "Dermatological aspect of a successful introduction and continuation of alcohol-based hand rubs for hygienic disinfection." Journal of Hospital Infection, 55, 1, 1-7.
• Snipe, C.C. (2005). JCAHO survival guide: A primer for the medical educator. [Online] Retrieved May 1, 2008 from the Association for Hospital Medical Education database on the Website: http://www.ahme.org/events/spring2005/handouts/Snipe_Presentation.pdf.

More papers on Encouraging Hand Hygiene Compliance:

• Term Paper # 149712 : "Nursing Hand Hygiene"
• Research Paper # 114424 : "Hospital Infections and Hand Hygiene"
• Analytical Essay # 138737 : "Hand Hygiene and Health-Care Associated Infection"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: