Critical Evaluation of Hand Hygiene Practice in Westmead Hospital

This study critically evaluates the hand hygiene practice in Westmead Hospital, discussing factors leading to hygiene problems, clinical governance, interventions, and strategies to solve hand hygiene problems and improve health outcomes.

Critical Evaluation of Hand
Hygiene Practice in Westmead
Hospital
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TABLE OF CONTENT
TITLE: To critically evaluate an infection prevention and control practice procedure in work
area...................................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Background of the study..............................................................................................................3
Aim and objectives......................................................................................................................3
Rationale of study........................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................4
Staffing and associated factors that are increasing hygiene issue at Westmead Hospital. (300) 4
Environmental factors that are leading hygiene problems..........................................................4
Clinical governance of Westmead Hospital about hand hygiene practice...................................5
INTERVENTIONS..........................................................................................................................6
Strategies to solve hand hygiene problem and improving health outcomes................................6
EVALUATION...............................................................................................................................7
DISCUSSION..................................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
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TITLE: To critically evaluate an infection prevention and control practice
procedure in work area.
INTRODUCTION
In regard to hand hygiene, it can be said that it is a way of cleaning hands that
substantially reduces pathogens on hands. Hand hygiene is considered as one of the main
measure for decreasing the risk of transmitting infection among health care personnel and
common people. Poor hand hygiene is one of the main health issue that can increase infectious
disease. Germs can also be transmitted from unwashed hand. For protecting people against
spread of infectious disease, diarrhoeal, eye infection as well as respiratory infection, people
need to wash their hands and focus on proper hand hygiene.
Background of the study
This present study is based on West mead, territory Hospital in Sydney, Australia. It
specialized in treating major trauma, bone marrow transplant, pancreas cell transplant,
interventional neuroradiology and advanced gastroenterology. This study is going to discuss
impact of hand hygiene issue on patient and healthcare providers of Westmead Hospital. This
study will further discuss some factors that are leading this problem such as poor layout facility,
ageing staff and lack of awareness among healthcare providers. Further, it will discuss some
effective strategies by which hand hygiene issue can be solved out.
Aim and objectives
Aim: Aim of conducting this study is “To identify effective infection prevention practice for
improving hand hygiene issue. Study on Westmead Hospital.
Objectives
 To identify staffing and associated factors that are increasing hygiene issue at Westmead
Hospital.
 To discuss environmental factors that are leading hygiene problems.
 To evaluate clinical governance of Westmead Hospital about hand hygiene practice
Rationale of study
The reason behind conducting study on this topic is to discuss consequences and problems
of hand hygiene issues on people and healthcare providers. Hand hygiene is one of the main
issue that can lead infectious disease and can affect life expectancy as well. It was underrated
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and undiscussed health issue so making people aware about this issue and protecting them from
consequences of this issue, this study has been conducted. It has been known from infection
control team of Westmead Hospital. that this unsolved issue has affected number of patients and
staff of this hospital so, by conducting this study and knowing effective strategies, health
outcomes can be improved.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Staffing and associated factors that are increasing hygiene issue at Westmead Hospital. (300)
In regard to Westmead hospital, it is known that it is facing hand hygiene related issue
and this issue is affecting its overall image and performance. There are number of factors have
been known that can lead to this problem, associated with staff. According to the Black and
et.al., (2019) age of facility is one of the main staff issue. As facilities, provided to patients at
this workplace have been older and no longer functioning in an effective manner. This age of
facility and layout of facilities is affecting overall productivity of this staff of this hospital. It is
lowering their confidence and that is why they do not invest and focus on hand hygiene.
Vanroelen, (2019) argued and stated that poor team workplace readiness skills among
staff of this hospital is one of the main factor that is increasing this hand hygiene. Lack of skills
and lack of awareness among people create this problem. When people do not have awareness
about hand hygiene then they do not focus on such things. Nowadays, after Covid-19, many
people have come to know about hand sanitizer. Before this pandemic, they did not know usage
of hand sanitizer and reasons of hand sanitizing on a regular and continuous basis specially when
people go to hospital. Healthcare providers of this hospital are either too young or aged. So, they
do not have much knowledge about this problem and effectiveness of hand hygiene. Lack of
team readiness skills among employees such as: communication, leadership, team working and
leadership capabilities.
Environmental factors that are leading hygiene problems
There are number of environmental factors that are increasing rise of hand hygiene and
increasing this issue. As per the Zinovyeva and Koptyakova, (2019) increasing pollution is one
of the main environmental factor that is increasing this hand hygiene problem. Due to increasing
pollution, it has become important for people and staff members to focus on hand hygiene
otherwise, it may increase infectious disease. Healthcare providers deal with number of patients,
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and they have high risk to get affected from infectious disease so, it is one of the main reasons
that is increasing this hand hygiene issue.
Zhou and et.al., (2018) supported above view and stated that climate change and change
in such factor lead this hand hygiene issue. One of the main example of climate change and
environmental factor is: Covid-19. Sudden exposure of this pandemic increases rise of hand
hygiene and issue. Many of the people have now come to know about hand hygiene and hand
sanitizer. This spread of infectious disease and increase rises of Covid-19 has increased reasons
of using hand hygiene. It can increase risks of healthcare providers as they spend a lot of time in
hospitals.
Omisore, (2018) argued and said that lack of access to healthcare services is increasing
hand hygiene issues. People, who live in rural and developing areas, find difficulties to get
healthcare access. Due to undeveloped areas and lack of healthcare access, they do not have
much knowledge about hand hygiene. They just wash their hand after working household chores
and others. So, it is important for healthcare providers and associated organisations to increase
awareness among such people and providing them easier access to healthcare services. So, on
the basis of this, it can be said that there are number of factors that are increasing reasons for
focusing on hand hygiene.
Clinical governance of Westmead Hospital about hand hygiene practice
In regard to clinical governance, it can be said that it is a systematic approach to maintain
as well as improve overall quality of patient care within the National health service. According to
the Mahdi and et.al., (2020) .there are number of such clinical governance and such factors of
this hospital that are increase hand hygiene problems such as: audit, education and training and
information and IT. It is known from its audit and report of patients data that there are number of
patient who got infected from infectious disease and the reason behind it is: poor hand hygiene
and knowledge among people as well. This hospital does not have effective infrastructure for
hand hygiene such as: hand sanitizer in each department and rooms. It is increasing hand hygiene
issue for its staff members and patients as well.
.Banik, Durayb, King and Rashid, (2022) supported above view and stated that lack of
education and training facilities by this hospital is increasing hand hygiene problem. This
committee does not invest much in training and development and it is one of the main staffing
associated issue that is increasing hand hygiene issue. Due to lack of training among staff
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members, they find difficulties in managing patients to the great extent with effectiveness. Along
with this, poor implementation of IT and advanced technology is other main reason that is
increasing rise of hand hygiene issue. Due to poor technology, people need to use hand sanitizer
on continuous basis and when they often forgot to bring hand sanitizer. It is the reason as hand
hygiene issue is increasing in this hospital and it is one of the main concern for this hospital.
Overall, it can be said that facility and clinical governance of this hospital is not good and these
are increasing hand hygiene issue.
INTERVENTIONS
Strategies to solve hand hygiene problem and improving health outcomes
There are number of ways and strategies that can help this hospital out in improving hand
hygiene and solving all problems that are associated with hand hygiene issue. One of the
effective ways of improving hand hygiene is: education as well as training to healthcare
providers (Nicolaides and et.al., 2020). By providing on board training to employees about
hygiene and ways of maintaining it, they can improve overall health of people. By doing so, it
can improve its image in the market and can provide qualitative care to patients. Trained and
educated employees is one of the main keys of organizational success. Trained healthcare
providers can make patients aware about hand hygiene, and they can encourage them for
maintaining this. It can help this hospital out in improving image and quality of care.
Some other effective ways include: making a habit among patients, hand hygiene can be
improved. When patients will be encouraged to wash their hands whenever they come home
from outside, touch anything within hospital area and shake hands with others, then they can
protect themselves as well as others from getting affected with spreading of infectious disease.
For this purpose, healthcare providers of this hospital needs to provide rewards for this good
habit and it can decrease this problem (Vermeil and et.al., 2019). By encouraging patients,
healthcare providers can decrease hospital stay of patients and it can have overall positive impact
on their health.
There are number of technologies and systems that can measure accuracy and feasibility
of hand hygiene. Advanced hand hygiene electronic monitoring systems can make healthcare
professionals aware about intensity of this problem and on the basis of measurement, they can
make decision and use strategies accordingly. Along with this, manager can directly observe on
all functions and can identify usage of products (Powell-Jackson and et.al., 2020). By observing
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product usage, manager can know effectiveness of hand hygiene as well as awareness level
among healthcare providers. It can help manager out in making appropriate decision and
implementation of strategies accordingly.
Along with this, by making a partnership with other voluntary organisation, healthcare providers
and manager of this hospital can develop and promote health awareness programs. By making a
list of health concern and hand hygiene problems, people can be made aware. They can be
encouraged for improving hand hygiene. Health awareness program is an effective ways of
protecting people against infectious disease that leads by poor hand hygiene. It can be beneficial
for both healthcare providers and general people as it can decrease patients’ cases that will
automatic decrease pressure on healthcare providers. It will increase living standard and life
expectancy of people.
EVALUATION
It is important to evaluate effectiveness of used intervention as it can make managers of
this hospital able in knowing areas where they need to make improvements and areas where they
are doing well. Some evaluation strategies that can be used for measuring effectiveness of above
discussed intervention include: follow-up audit observation (Zivich, Gancz and Aiello, 2018.
Hospitals maintain audit reports in which they maintain data about number of patients, reasons of
patients admission and others. Along with this, manager can follow-up inventory report in which
they can see as how many sanitizers and hand hygiene resources have been used and on the basis
of this measurement, they can know improvement of hand hygiene and effectiveness of people
awareness program.
Along with this, manager and employers can take feedbacks from healthcare providers.
By asking questions related to hand hygiene, they can measure effectiveness of training and
development intervention. Main aim of providing training is to increase knowledge and making
healthcare providers aware about effectiveness of hand hygiene. So, by asking some relevant
questions and by evaluating their answers, employers can measure their awareness level and can
develop strategies accordingly (Martos-Cabrera and et.al., 2019). By taking feedbacks from
patients, manager can know effectiveness of their services and performance of their healthcare
providers. It can make them aware about their overall performance and accordingly they can
improve their performance by using technology and implementing strategies. Healthcare
providers can be asked for some suggestions by which their manager can improve hand hygiene
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and can decrease cases of infectious disease. Suggestions can help out managers is selection of
effective strategies for making a habit of hand hygiene among people.
Along with this, some software can also be used for measuring effectiveness of
implemented interventions. Patients' reports can also be used for evaluation as by comparing
patients report before, hand hygiene awareness and after hand hygiene awareness, they can
measure effectiveness and can decrease infectious disease of cases. By knowing number of
patients with infectious disease because of poor hand hygiene, they can measure effectiveness of
their interventions and can know awareness level among people. It can help managers out in
selecting effective other strategies for improving and hygiene as well as improving their image in
the market. Overall, it can be said that all these evaluation methods can make able to managers in
measuring or knowing overall effectiveness of their selected strategies for improving hand
hygiene. By making people know about consequences of hygiene, they can be encouraged for
taking care of their health and protecting them from disease.
DISCUSSION
On the basis of above evaluation strategies and interventions of improving hand hygiene, it
can be said that increasing awareness among people as well as healthcare providers is one of the
best ways. When employees get proper training and they have knowledge regarding each and
every important thing then they are more likely to improve their performance and protect
themselves from infectious disease (Greenaway, Ormandy, Fellows and Hollowood, 2018).
Some strategies that have been discussed above and that can help out this hospital in decreasing
infectious disease of case by improving health hygiene include: implementation of hygiene
measurement tools and technologies so that manager can know effectiveness of hand hygiene.
By following up and reviewing patients’ information register as well as inventory register, they
can see used number of hand sanitizer. It can also make them able to know awareness level
among people and healthcare providers.
It is also known that feedback can also help out manager in measuring effectiveness of
interventions and strategies as well. By taking feedbacks from healthcare providers on hand
hygiene issues, manager can know awareness level and their interest of improving hand hygiene.
It is also known that poor hand hygiene leads number of health disease such as: cold, respiratory
infection, meningitis, chicken pox and influenza (von Lengerke and et.al., 2019). Increasing
awareness among people and allowing easier access to healthcare services to people, live in rural
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areas, health of people can be improved. For increasing awareness, this hospital needs to make
partnership with voluntary organisations and schools so that they can encourage tutors for adding
a chapter in curriculum related to hand hygiene and health awareness. When students have
knowledge then they are more likely to teach their parents about this and this teaching process
can help out general people and healthcare providers of this hospital in improving hand hygiene
and increasing trust of patients in their care services. When patients know that healthcare
providers think about them and are concerned for their health then they are more likely to
cooperate and improve their health. They are more likely to trust on care services, provided by
hospitals and it improves image of healthcare sector.
On the basis of above discussed strategies as well as consequences of poor hand hygiene, it
can clearly be said that focusing on hand hygiene and having clean and hygiene hands is
important as it can protect people from getting affected with infectious and other respiratory
disease.
CONCLUSION
It has been summarised from the above study that hand hygiene is one of the main issue that
is affecting people and healthcare providers to the great extent. It has discussed some factors that
are increasing this problem and increasing risks of infectious disease. Some factors that have
been discussed in this study that are increasing these problems include: lack of awareness among
healthcare providers due to poor training, environmental factors such as climate change, sudden
exposure of covid-19 and other infectious disease. Further, this study has discussed some
strategies that can help healthcare providers and care homes in improving hand hygiene and
solving all issues that are occurring due to poor hand hygiene. Some effective strategies that have
been discussed above include: providing training to healthcare providers, hiring skilled and
adults healthcare providers who have experience and knowledge about hand hygiene. All these
strategies can improve hand hygiene and can improve life standard of people.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Banik, G.R., Durayb, B., King, C. and Rashid, H., 2022. Antimicrobial Resistance Following
Prolonged Use of Hand Hygiene Products: A Systematic Review. Pharmacy, 10(1), p.9.
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format (gel/foam/liquid) and dose amount on its sensory properties and acceptability for
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Mahdi, H. and et.al., 2020. Hand hygiene knowledge and practices among domestic hajj
pilgrims: Implications for future mass gatherings amidst COVID-19. Tropical Medicine
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Marinov, V., Vodenska, M. and Assenova, M. eds., 2018. Traditions and Innovations in
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Nicolaides, C. and et.al., 2020. Hand‐hygiene mitigation strategies against global disease
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Vanroelen, C., 2019. Employment quality: An overlooked determinant of workers’ health and
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von Lengerke, T. and et.al., 2019. Impact of psychologically tailored hand hygiene interventions
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Zivich, P.N., Gancz, A.S. and Aiello, A.E., 2018. Effect of hand hygiene on infectious diseases
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