HAND HYGIENE AS A STRATEGY IN HOSPITAL INFECTION CONTROL: A QUANTITATIVE STUDY
Abstract
Hospital-acquired infections (HI) continue to constitute a serious public health issue worldwide. Among the main measures of prevention and control is hand hygiene, which, according to Semmelweis and Florence Nightingale, is an important tool to reduce HI rates. This research adopts a descriptive and quantitative approach to analyze the frequency of hand washing by healthcare staff of a university hospital located in Niterói, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After being approved by the Ethics Committee, the study began by collecting data through a questionnaire comprising open and closed questions about the practice of hand washing as an instrument of data collection. After analyzing the data collected, 78% of professionals have been identified as women. With regard to age, the highest frequency occurred in the group of individuals between 26 and 45 years at 60%. Among the professional categories, 36% are nurses, 58% are practical nurses and 6%, nursing assistants. Regarding training or upgrading in the area of HI, we have observed that 48% of professionals have not acquired this. In relation to hand hygiene, 98% said they always wash them throughout the day, 96% said they do so in between procedures, 86%, after removal of gloves. Among the products used for hand washing, we observed massive use of soap and water, a practice cited by 92% of the respondents, followed by alcohol gel at 44%. But when asked about how they carried it out, only 26% of the professionals could describe it in detail. After this study, we conclude that, although health professionals know the importance of hand washing and argue that they frequently do it during care, just very few of them effectively perform the technique in a satisfactory way, which shows the need for greater professional involvement and constant update on the subject.Downloads
The works published in this magazine are subject to the following terms:
1. The Publications Service of the University of Murcia (the publisher) preserves the copyright of the published works, and encourages and allows the reuse of the works under the license for use stated in point 2.
© Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Murcia, 2011 (© Publications Service, University of Murcia, 2011)
2. The works are published in the electronic edition of the journal under Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada 3.0 España(texto legal) “ a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 Spain license (legal text)”. They can be copied, used, broadcasted, transmitted and publicly displayed, provided that: i) the authorship and original source of their publication (journal, publisher and URL) are cited; (ii) are not used for commercial purposes; iii) the existence and specifications of this license is mentioned.
3. Conditions of self-archiving. Authors are allowed and encouraged to electronically disseminate the pre-print (pre-reviewed ) and / or post-print (reviewed and accepted for publication) versions of their works prior to publication, as it ensures a wider circulation and dissemination which may lead to a possible increase in its mention and a higher scope among the academic community. RoMEO color: green.
