Hand Washing under Acute Care Settings | Report

Running head: NURSING
Hand Washing under Acute Care Settings
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1NURSING
Part 1
Importance of hand washing
According to the Centres of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2019), hand
washing is simple yet effective way for preventing infections and the same concept is
applicable under the healthcare settings. Chauhan, Pandey and Thakuria (2019) stated that
healthcare associated infections (HAIs) are drawing significant attention under the healthcare
settings by causing high rate of motality, morbidity and increased cost of care. Undisputed
evidences have suggested that strict adherence of the hand hygiene helps in the reduction of
the HAIs. The reports published by World Health Organisations (WHO) (2019) have stated
that following five basic steps of hand hygiene protocol helps in reducing the chance HAIs.
The specific aspect of the hand hygiene that will be focused in this assignment include tools
to increase the compliance of hand hygiene under acute healthcare settings by the nursing
professionals in order to reduce the HAIs rate while decreasing the length of stay at the
hospital.
Summary
The clinical practice that must be investigated in use of different disinfected and water
for the prevention of HAIs under the healthcare settings. WHO 5 moments of hand hygiene
promotes adherence to five-steps as a part of the evidence-based practice guidelines in order
to prevent the chances of the HAIs. It is a field tested user-centred approach that is designed
to in such a way that is easy to learn, logical and is applicable under wide healthcare settings
(WHO, 2019).
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2NURSING
Figure: WHO’s five moments of hand hygiene?
(Source: WHO, 2019)
Justification
HAI is significant problem under the healthcare settings as it increases the overall cost
of care while exponentially increasing the mortality and morbidity rate (Mitchell et al., 2017).
This area of practice needs to be investigated further because, in spite of the having the a
detailed clinical framework for the practice of the hand hygiene procedure by WHO, the rate
of adherence of hand hygiene among the nursing professionals are low leading to an
increased rate of hospital acquired infections. Mitchell et al. (2017) highlighted in their
systematic review report that Australian healthcare system is suffering from increased burden
of HAIs. Approximately 165,000 HAIs are being recorded each year in Australia thus
indicating improved training of the nursing professionals in order to increase the adherence of
the hand hygiene protocol (Mitchell et al., 2017). The longitudinal study conducted by
Sickbert-Bennett et al. (2016) over 853 beds in hospital showed that that improving hand
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3NURSING
hygiene compliance among the nurses play a significant role in reducing the rate of HAIs
among the patients and thus improving the overall quality of care.
PICO Question
Population (P) Nursing professionals working under in-patient settings
Interventions (I) Training and use of tool in hand hygiene (HH)
Comparison (C) No training and skill based improvements
Outcomes (O) Increased adherence of the HH and decreased rate of the HAIs
Search strategy
The key terms that are used for the search of the articles are highlighted in the table below:
Keyword 1 hand hygiene OR hand washing
Boolean Operator AND
Keyword 2 Compliance OR Adherence
Boolean Operator AND
Keyword 3 Hospital-acquired infection OR HAIs OR nosocomial infection
Boolean Operator AND
Keyword 4 hygiene education
The inclusion and exclusion criteria used for search of the literary articles are highlighted in
the table below
Inclusion Criteria Exclusion Criteria
Year of publication: 2015 to 2019 Papers published before 2015
Language: English Other than English
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