Improving Patient Care: A Hand Hygiene Quality Improvement Project

This project presents a quality improvement plan centered on hand hygiene within a hospital setting, aiming to comply with the STEEP framework (Safe, Timely, Effective, Efficient, Equitable, Patient-centered). The project highlights the significance of hand hygiene in preventing healthcare-related infections, citing the WHO guidelines and the impact of poor hand hygiene. It employs the Six Sigma tool to define, measure, analyze, improve, and control the problem, with the goal of reducing infection rates among patients and nursing professionals. The plan involves educating and training staff, implementing hand hygiene protocols, and evaluating outcomes through reduced infection cases and associated medical costs. The project outlines the steps involved in effective hand hygiene, the economic impact of the intervention, and the resources required. The timeline projects positive outcomes within eight months. The project provides references to support its findings.

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROJECT
-PRESENTED BY:

STEEP Framework:
 The STEEP framework stands for providing a safe, timely,
effective, efficient, equitable and patient-centred care to the
patients
 Effective compliance with the STEEP framework aims to provide
care to the patients within a holistic environment
 The major transmitting agent of contamination within the
hospital setting has been reported to be poor hand hygiene
 Complying with the WHO guidelines of effective hand hygiene,
the incidence of infection can be prevented to a significant extent

Objectives:
 To initiate patient’s hand-hygiene in
order to comply with the STEEP
framework
 Following the hand hygiene regimen
under the supervision of trained
nursing staff would help in the
reduction of health care related
infections
 Studies reveal that improper
maintenance of hand hygiene
contributes to over 80% of infections
(Allegranzi et al., 2013)
 Care givers are placed at an
increased risk of developing
infections (Gould et al., 2017)

Quality Improvement Principle
 The six-sigma tool is a quality improvement
tool (J Liberatore, 2013)
 It comprises of five important elements that
include, Defining the problem, Measuring
the problem, Analysing the problem,
Improving the problem and Controlling the
problem (Hunt et al., 2014)
 Inclusion of stringent hand hygiene protocol
has been reported to reduce the incidence
of infections up to 72% (Gould et al., 2017)
 It can hence be stated that complying with
HH would also help in the reduction of
infections among the nursing professionals
 With the help of the six-sigma tool the
quality standard would be effectively
enhanced at every step

The plan
 To initiate the process of hand
hygiene in patients under the
supervision of nursing
professionals
 Infectious diseases within
hospital setting have been
reported to be primarily
transmitted because of touch
(Gould et al., 2017)
 Effective awareness and
education strategies can help in
minimising the rate of infection

Steps Involved:
 The steps involved in maintenance of
hand hygiene includes,
 Rubbing the palms
 Rubbing the back side of both the hands
 Interfacing the fingers and rubbing the
hands together
 Interlocking the fingers and rubbing the
cack side of the fingers of both hands
 Rubbing the thumb in a rotating manner
between the area of index finger and
thumb
 Rubbing the fingertips for both the hands
 Rubbing both the wrists in a rotating
manner followed by rinsing the hand and
drying it

Awareness of economic impact:
 Implementation of proper hand
hygiene regimen will reduce the
total medical cost due to the
reduction in the incidence of
infections
 This would significantly
contribute towards a positive
economy

Resources Involved:
 Informative seminars and
workshops to train professionals
 Government funded materials
such as soaps and sanitizers

Method of evaluation:
 Reduced cases of infectious
disorders such as cholera and
influenza
 Reduced cases of health care
related infections in the
concerned set of population

Projection of timeline for
improvement
 It can be expected that within a
time period of 8 months, the
positive outcome of the proposed
objectives would be evidently
noticed

References:
Allegranzi, B., Gayet-Ageron, A., Damani, N., Bengaly, L., McLaws, M. L., Moro, M. L., ... &
Donaldson, L. (2013). Global implementation of WHO's multimodal strategy for
improvement of hand hygiene: a quasi-experimental study. The Lancet infectious
diseases, 13(10), 843-851.
Gould, D. J., Moralejo, D., Drey, N., Chudleigh, J. H., & Taljaard, M. (2017). Interventions
to improve hand hygiene compliance in patient care. Cochrane database of
systematic reviews, (9).
Hunt, M. R., Schwartz, L., Sinding, C., & Elit, L. (2014). The ethics of engaged presence: a
framework for health professionals in humanitarian assistance and development
work. Developing world bioethics, 14(1), 47-55.
J. Liberatore, M. (2013). Six Sigma in healthcare delivery. International journal of health
care quality assurance, 26(7), 601-626.