Healthcare Infection Control: Hand Hygiene and Nursing Practices

This report analyzes the critical role of hand hygiene in healthcare, particularly from a nursing perspective. It highlights the significance of hand hygiene in preventing hospital-acquired infections, emphasizing the impact of nurse-to-patient ratios and the consequences of inadequate handwashing practices. The report references studies that show a correlation between nurse burnout and increased infection rates, as well as the direct link between hand hygiene and patient safety. It underscores the importance of this practice for both patients and healthcare professionals, especially in settings like intensive care units, dialysis centers, and nursing homes, advocating for improved hygiene protocols to minimize infection transmission. The assignment also provides a personal narrative that underscores the devastating consequences of poor infection control within a hospital setting, including the loss of a patient due to a preventable infection.

Name of Student –
Name of University -
CLEAN & HYGIENCE
HANDS FOR SAFE HEALTHCARE
Reference
Magill, S. S., Edwards, J. R., Bamberg, W., Beldavs, Z. G., Dumyati, G., Kainer, M. A., ... & Ray, S. M. (2014). Multistate point-
prevalence survey of health care–associated infections. New England Journal of Medicine, 370(13), 1198-1208. DOI:
10.1056/NEJMoa1306801
Cimiotti, J. P., Aiken, L. H., Sloane, D. M., & Wu, E. S. (2012). Nurse staffing, burnout, and health care–associated infection. American
journal of infection control, 40(6), 486-490. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2012.02.029
Knowledge Gaps In Healthcare
System
•Nurse to patient ratio
Increase in various types of infections are
mostly attributable to discrepancies in nurse
burnout; each 10% rise in burned-out nurses
in a hospital raised the infection rate by
almost 1 per 1,000 patients (Cimiotti, Aiken,
Sloane & Wu, 2012).
•Hand hygiene
Healthcare professionals, on average, clean
their hands less than half the time they
should. It poses a risk of potentially deadly
infections for them and their patients.
Magill et al., 2014Evidence of knowledge gaps in healthcare
system
•Nurse to patient ratio
There was room for twenty-five patients in the
hospital's intensive care unit. However, only 13 nurses
were dispatched for 25 patients. It was a very
deplorable condition.
•Hand hygiene
The diseases developed when nurses did not wash
their hands while attending to the other patients who
contributed to bacteria and viruses being passed to the
surface of another person. The rationale for this
approach could be held accountable for higher hospital
officials who are continually putting pressure on the
nursing staff that reduces the quality of nursing
practice.
A great way to prevent infections is hand
hygiene. Each patient is at possibility of
becoming infected whilst being treated for
something else. Also, healthcare
professionals are in danger of becoming
contaminated when caring for patients. For
hospitals and other services such as dialysis
centers and nursing homes, avoiding
infection transmission is particularly
significant. It can be facilitated primarily by
improving health hygiene practices