How can Hand Hygiene Benefit the Healthcare Setting?

Hand hygiene is one of the simplest but most effective ways to prevent bacteria, virus or germs from spreading. This article explores the benefits of hand hygiene in the healthcare setting and provides insights on how healthcare workers can improve their hand hygiene practices. It also discusses the impact of hand hygiene on patient care and the importance of infection control practices in healthcare organizations.

Running head: HOW CAN HAND HYGIENE BENEFIT THE HEALTHCARE
SETTING
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How can Hand Hygiene Benefit the Healthcare Setting?
Jessica Nichols
Grand Canyon University

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How can Hand Hygiene benefit the Healthcare Setting?
Hand hygiene is one of the simplest but most effective ways to prevent bacteria, virus or
germs from spreading. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), states that
practicing good hygiene prevents infections such as, antibiotic resistant infection.
Approximately, less than half of healthcare workers perform hand hygiene than they are required
to do (CDC, 2019). Often, when learning about hand hygiene and when to wash or sanitize,
individuals are told to always clean hands when in direct contact with body fluids or other
contaminants. Alcohol based sanitizers have shown to eliminate most of the germs or bacteria
that can weaken one’s immune system. Also, sanitizers can also cause dryness and eventually
breaking the skin, exposing that individual to both good and bad germs which are harmful for the
individual. It’s important to remember that when sanitizing and washing, one mustto rotate
between the two in order to avoid severe dryness to hands and every so often to try to use a
moisturizer. One in thirty-one hospital have reported a patient having a hospital-acquired
infection due to poor hand hygiene (CDC, 2019). Nurses and healthcare providers have saved
numerous lives from performing this task while treating or caring for patients.
Furthermore, the purpose of this appraisal is to determine the impact that good hand
hygiene has on the healthcare setting and determine how patients can benefit from this action.
It’s also important that healthcare organizationsinfection control implements infection control
practices such as an on the job training, ensuring that all the staff are competent with hand
washing. Sometimes, people believe that washing with soap and water is enough, however
there’s a required time for hand washing and specific areas of the hand should be cleansed while
doing so. Healthcare workers should also try to keep their nails trimmed and avoid artificial
nails, due to bacteria finding their way under the nails leading to a higher microbial

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concentration. The two articles that I’ve selected explains how hand washing can change the
outcome of patient care by reducing microbial contamination and increasinges the patient’ir
chances of survivalving.
How do these two articles support the nurse practice issue you chose?
In addition, the first article I’ll summarize is explaining the effects of proper hand
hygiene during hemodialysis services. Infections involving the blood stream can cause more
harm than good for dialysis patients. As the CDC mentioned, approximately 75,000 patients
receiveing hemodialysis through a central line. These patients also have a high-risk for infection,
because the central line places them at a greater risk, 37000 central line-associated blood stream
infections have occurred in the United States with patients on hemodialysis in the year 2008
(CDC, 2017). Patients undergoing dialysis are at a higher for multi-drug-resistant
microorganisms, it’s important to remember that during the insertion of a central line the
individual performing this task should remember that this procedure requires sterile technique to
lower the risk for exposure to bacteria. During this procedure blood is removed from the
patient’s body then filtered or cleaned by the dialysis machine, then returned into the individual’s
body. Infection is the second leading cause of death for patients suffering from End-Stage
Kidney Disease (ESKD) (Silva et al., 2018). The main objective of this research is to see how
well the nursing team can comply with safe hand hygiene practice and latex glove usage when
conducting hemodialysis in Sao Paulo State, Brazil (Silva et al., 2018).
Meanwhile, in South Sudan there was a study conducted to determine the knowledge of
hand washing among healthcare providers working at Juba Teaching Hospital (JTH) and
determine if there are any associations with demographics, professionals and clinical associated
factors. Also, nosocomial infections have shown to increase the mortality rate, but adhering to

HOW CAN HAND HYGIENE BENEFIT THE HEALTHCARE SETTING 4
the hand washing procedures enforced in healthcare facilities can also lower the rate of infections
(Charles et al., 2015). By assessing the knowledge that healthcare professionals possess
regarding hand hygiene, individuals from infections control would know where to begin and
what areas to emphasize more when formulating a teaching plan. Healthcare workers often,
believe that wearing gloves is enough in preventing microbes from spreading, but this isn’t true.
Before entering and leaving a room, healthcare professionals should always remember to
perform hand hygiene, even if him/her did not encounter any physical contact with the patient.
Method of Study
Nevertheless, article one spoke about the importance of hand hygiene in patients
undergoing dialysis. The method used in this study is a descriptive- exploratory with a
quantitative approach. One benefit of using this method is the environment for which the
participants are under observation, remains the same. However, limitation of this method
includes; the participants do not always tell the truth and the researcher may be biased. For
example, the researcher can determine which information to include and which finding to place
more emphasis on. This study took place between the month of August through October year
2016, where healthcare professionals were assessed in a hemodialysis service along the
countryside of Sao Paulo State, Brazil (Silva et al., 2018). Moreover, article two uses a cross-
sectional survey, with a total of 204 participants 126 males and 78 females (Charles et al., 2015).
These two articles are different in that they used two different approach with achieving the same
goal. Descriptive- exploratory research method involves exploring a new knowledge or each
participant’s understanding of the issue being researched. While cross-sectional survey is based
on observational study, this involves data collection through 25 question surveys and then
comparing the answers using a t-test. A t-test is used to determine if there are any differences

HOW CAN HAND HYGIENE BENEFIT THE HEALTHCARE SETTING 5
between two or more groups being analyzed. Cross-sectional surveys can be beneficial because
itcan be used to corroborate or discredit assumptions. Limitations of this method is that it cannot
determine cause and effect or analyze behavior over a period (Shantikumar, 2018).
Results of Study
Article one, which researched on, hHand hygiene and the use of gloves by the nursing
team in hemodialysis service (article one), indicated results which highlighted involved 1090
opportunities of hand hygiene with the adhesion rate being 16.6 percent. Glove usage had 510
opportunities which were observed and only 45 percent of that observation was done correctly
(Silva et al., 2018). Furthermore, while assessing the knowledge of hand washing among health
care providers in Juba Teaching Hospital, mentioned that of 204 participants 126 male and 78
females all between the ages of 18 through 50 and an educational background of primary through
secondary (36), college (116), graduate and post-graduate (52). Results showed that individuals
who were inconsistent with hand hygiene and lacked the correct method, involved younger
employees who have recently attended hand hygiene training (Charles et al., 2015). These two
studies can help with showing where knowledge is needed ad serve as a guide for facilities
aiming to enforce hand hygiene and promote patient safety. The purpose of research articles is to
try to solve an ongoing issue and implement new protocols to avoid future occurrences.
Ethical Considerations
Ethical consideration while undergoing a research involves, knowing what behaviors or
actions are acceptable from unacceptable. Before conducting a research or study the first and
most important action is to get a written consent. It’s also important to give the participants
enough time to review the details of the study and get a better understanding of what the research

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entails. For example; before a patient receive any form of procedure, the provider must first
assess their knowledge, in order to determine if the procedure is right for the patient. Also,
another ethical consideration is to ensure that the risk involved are explained, making sure that
the individuals involved understand that harm can be physical or psychosocial. These researchers
in these two articles took the ethical consideration of not harming the participant by using a non-
invasive method to conduct the research. However, get a signed consent was not stated in the
articles, so I cannot give a definitive answer if this was done and what manner it was
implemented. Hand and hygiene can lower the growth at which bacteria spread, hence reducing
the rate for hospital-acquired infections. These studies have shown that with the correct
knowledge, knowing when to wash versus sanitizing, can drastically increase the survival rate of
patients by limiting their exposure to known drug resistant infections.

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References
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019). Hand Hygiene in Healthcare Setting.
Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/handhygiene/index.html
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Dialysis Safety. Retrieved from
https://www.cdc.gov/dialysis/clinician/index.html
Silva, D., Margues, B., Galhardi, N., & Figueiredo, R. (2018). Hand Hygiene and the use of
Gloves by Nursing Team Hemodialysis Services. Rev. Bras. Enferm, vol. 71. pp 1963-
1969. https://eds-b-ebscohost-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/eds/detail/detail?
vid=1&sid=79319a78-bf14-4664-9685-
c17a9f78e1d9%40sessionmgr102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0
ZQ%3d%3d#AN=edssci.S0034.71672018000801963&db=edssci
Langoya, C & Fuller, N. (2015). Assessment of Knowledge of Hand Washing among Health
Care Providers in Juda Teaching Hospital, South Sudan. South Sudan Medical Journal,
vol. 8. pp 60-63. https://eds-a-ebscohost-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/eds/detail/detail?
vid=1&sid=0159136f-acd0-4973-aaa4-
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l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=edsdoj.47ccd3d361234d97bc5ca8f54cbcd8f5&db=edsdoj

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References Continue
Shantikumar, S. (2018). Design, Applications, Strength and Weakness of Cross-Sectional,
Analytical Studies and Intervention Studies. Retrieved from
https://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/public-health-textbook/research-methods/1a-
epidemiology/cs-as-is