Overview Of Hand Hygiene In Healthcare

This essay is going to focus on the importance of hand hygiene in nursing practice. Hand washing is the basic and vital role of healthcare professionals. Our hands are the main vector responsible for the transmission of micro-organisms. In the current scenario, the importance of hand wash is noticed by the people in every sector whether it is general or healthcare. Nurses can use this practice in their interventions by evaluating the research done on this topic. As nursing is an evidence-based practice, the nurses need to understand the needs of the patients and based on that provide the best quality care to them (Ahmed, & et al., 2020). Nurses need evidence that can help them in guiding the effective way of giving care to the patients (Aledeilah, & et al., 2018). This evidence they get by evaluating the research. It is therefore important to appraise the evidence used in the research critically for its validation, impact and application. This essay will critically review the two scholarly articles to evaluate the key findings of the research. The findings of both the researches are compared and the relevancy of these findings with other topics will be discussed. In this essay, Rolfe, Freshwater & Jasper (2001/11) reflective model is used to reflect on the findings of the evidence. It is generally based on the three questions -What, so what and now what? Both the articles were critically analyzed along with the other policies. Critical Appraisal Skill Program (CASP) is used to critique the articles related to hand hygiene. In CASP, there are 11 questions provided in the form of a checklist and is divided into three sections A, B, C and D. Section A comprises of questions related to the validity of the study design, section B asks about the methodology used in the research was it appropriate or not? And section C comprises the results and section D comprises the applicability of the result.

This essay will critically analyse the article ‘Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of nurses towards hand washing in infection prevention and control at a psychiatric hospital’ (Bimirew & Muhawenimana, 2022) and ‘Exploring determinants of hand hygiene among hospital nurses: a qualitative study (Ghaffari, & et al., 2020). In the first research article, the awareness, point of view and application of the nurses towards handwashing was examined and it was found that there was a variation in the understanding and point of view among the nurses. In the second article, various factors that affect hand hygiene among the particular nurses were identified.  Importance Of Hand Hygiene In Nursing Practice Essay Paper

The first article shows the purpose of the author was to examine the awareness and understanding of the nurses towards hand washing. The author has conducted a survey in which a questionnaire was used to examine the point of view and application of handwashing among the nurses. A random sampling of the permanent nurses was done and 195 nurses were selected for conducting the survey. The data collection method was based on the CDC guidelines (Alshammari, & et al., 2018). The researchers have taken permission from the management and health department to use the health facilities for the survey. The information obtained from the survey was treated confidentially. The result of the survey showed that most of the participants of the survey were females with variety in respect to age and work experience. The result of the survey showed that almost all of the nurses have the awareness and knowledge of handwashing before coming in direct contact with the patients. The majority of the nurses have shown a positive attitude towards hand washing and agreed that washing hands frequently will reduce the chances of infection (Ceylan, & et al., 2020). The method of random sampling may affect the outcome of the survey. According to CASP, it was observed that the study design was valid for the randomized controlled trial. The study has focused on the research question. The study was methodically sound as the participants were free to respond to the questionnaire. The outcomes were measured and specified. It was found that most of the participants were females. The results can be applied to the local population. The survey did not study the protocols used for handwashing among the nurses.

Importance Of Hand Hygiene In Nursing Practice

In the second article, the author’s purpose is to study the factors that affect the behavior of the nurses towards hand hygiene. The qualitative method was used with a content analysis approach. The article was focused on the importance of hand hygiene. There could be a major decrease in hospital infection if the nurses and health care pay attention to hand hygiene. The method used for data collection was semi-structured interviews. The participants were from different sections of the hospital. The topics for the discussion in the interview were the definition of hand hygiene, personal attitude towards hand hygiene, effects of the people and the environment on hand hygiene. A Lincoln and Cuba criterion was used to ensure the accuracy of the research. There were 16 nurses in this interview. Each interview lasted for 25-30 minutes. The ethical considerations were taken into the account before conducting the interview. Data were analyzed using direct Qualitative content analysis (Saitoh, & et al., 2020). The interview comprises questions based on the factors related to the environment, behavior, beliefs, and perceptions, educational, cultural, moral and lifestyle. The result showed a positive attitude of all the participants towards hand hygiene. Some of the participant’s responses showed that they were influenced by the behavior of their colleagues whether they are their senior or junior. The perception of the nurses was one of the main factors responsible for the negligence towards hand hygiene. Some of them responded that they didn’t get the time for hand wash, some responded to skin irritation, and a lot of patients to be cared for, lack of convenience, and the low knowledge about the importance of hand wash (Ridley, (2020). It has been observed from the interview that the nurses are not aware of the importance of frequent hand wash. This research has used the qualitative method so in order to examine the interrelationship between different identified variables further research is needed. According to CASP, it was observed that the study design was valid for the randomized controlled trial. The study has focused on the research question. The study was methodically sound as the participants were free to respond to the interview. The outcomes were measured and specified. It was found that most of the participants were influenced by the behavior of their colleagues. The results can be applied to the local population. There were 16 participants and the time consumed in one interview was half an hour approximately. So, it was quite a time-taking and also the confidentiality and reliability had been affected.

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On comparing both the researches, it has been found that the aim of both the researches was to study the awareness, knowledge, attitude and application of the nurses towards hand washing. It was found that in both the researches most of the nurses were aware of the importance of washing hands before meeting a patient. But in the second paper, some of the nurses neglect hand hygiene by giving many excuses. According to CASP, both the researches have a valid study design. The result can be applied to the local population. It was observed that the majority of the nurses are aware of the importance of washing hands before coming in contact with the patients but because of the environmental and other factors were not supposed to follow the habit of handwashing. It was also studied that the majority of the nurses are female and have a better point of view toward handwashing than males.

Critical Review Of Research On Hand Hygiene In Nursing Practice

As compared to other studies, it was found that the outcomes of both the study are similar to the other studies related to this topic. Hand washing has grabbed the attention during Covid-19 (Cha, & et al.,2018).  Hand washing among the nurses and the healthcare workers was considered a major area before the pandemic also. Hand washing is the only way to prevent infection in the hospital as hands are the main carrier of micro-organisms and other pathogens to transfer from one person to another. Nowadays, many advertisements including videos on social media are in prevalence to make the people and the nurses aware of the importance of handwashing (Graveto, & et al., 2018). Both the researches have studied the knowledge in the nurses about hand hygiene but somehow, they are not able to make it a habit of washing hands before touching a patient. They are alert and serious only when they come in close contact with the patients like after an invasive procedure. It was found in the study of the first article that the knowledge of the nurses reflected in the survey was very high but in actual observation, it is not similar to the response provided. This was maybe because of the absence of self-assessment. This could be an issue in this study. In both the articles, it was studied that the senior healthcare workers influenced the junior. If the seniors showed negative behavior towards handwashing practices, juniors were also affected negatively (Zhao, & et al.,2018). Therefore, it was recommended that seniors should play their part as being role models with a positive attitude towards hand washing so their juniors can also follow the same. In the comparison of these articles to other articles, it was observed that the findings in these two articles are almost similar to that found in other articles. The answer provided by the responders may vary from one person to another or sometimes the answer provided by the responders doesn’t meet the facts. It is therefore needed to research further on this topic. Effective organizational monitoring methods, like reliable skilled assessments for ongoing professional growth and learning, as a reward for increased performance, are recommended to promote compliance with hand hygiene standards (Lenglet, & et al., 2019). To understand the real use of appropriate hand hygiene practices, future research on this area must emphasize both auto-replies and actual observation. This will help in disclosing whether there is any difference between the reported and the observed data. Many studies regarding hand hygiene show that knowledge, attitude, beliefs are some of the factors that affect hand hygiene habits (Oh, 2021).  It was studied from the articles that most of the nurses are aware of the significance of washing their hands in the hospitals. Washing the hands frequently can lower the risk of infection and helps in the recovery of patients (Hillier, 2020). Otherwise, patients are subjected to more infection while remaining in the hospital. All the nurses and the health care organizations are equally responsible for maintaining the habit of handwashing before going to the patients or after visiting and observing any patient.

Comparison Of Research Findings On Hand Hygiene In Nursing Practice

After observing the findings of the two types of research I feel that the health care workers instead of knowing about the importance of handwashing in nursing and healthcare do not follow hygiene guidelines. I was a nurse who know my responsibility have also seen some of the senior nurses neglecting the need of washing hands in general. It is our responsibility to ensure the safety of the patients and prevent them from getting infected in the hospital. Hand hygiene not only helps the patient but also the healthcare workers in preventing infections (Hammerschmidt, & Manser 2019). Everyone must be aware of the need for handwashing while treating the patients. They must wear hand gloves, remove them, and clean their hands frequently. The use of hand sanitizers is also an option for cleaning the hands.  Everyone likes cleanliness and hygiene, especially in hospitals for which handwashing is the basic step.

Evidence from these papers taught me that there are several factors responsible for affecting the knowledge and attitude towards hand hygiene. The role of senior nurses plays an important role in motivating and influencing the subordinates. As a student nurse, I will follow the guidelines of the hospital in ensuring safety and quality care to the patients. And when I become a senior nurse then I will guide my juniors to act safely and securely in treating the patients. They can use various options for cleaning their hands such as soap, sanitizers, etc. The use of hand sanitizers has increased recently due to the Covid-19 pandemic that also insisted that healthcare professionals maintain hygiene. Additionally, they must also change their face mask as touching the infected masks can also infect the hands. Therefore, every step that maintains safety must be acknowledged by the healthcare professionals.

As a student nurse, I always have a positive attitude towards hand hygiene. I am trying to motivate my colleagues to have a positive attitude towards hand hygiene. Some of the obstacles to hand hygiene that I have come to know are unawareness of instructions, lack of time, overload of work, insufficient knowledge of the risks of transmission of infection. These obstacles must be removed by taking regular meetings and workshops of the healthcare staff. The staff members must feel motivated and influenced after attending workshops and meetings. I am following the guidelines of hand hygiene and in the future also to ensure that I as well as the patients will remain safe and prevented from an infection that is caused due to unawareness of scientific information regarding hand hygiene.

Conclusion

In this essay, it has been concluded that the critical analysis of the two articles on hand hygiene was explained. The aim and purpose of the authors in both the articles are to examine the knowledge, point of view, and application towards hand hygiene. It is studied that the method used in the research for collecting data was semi-structured interview and survey. The results of the survey and the interview suggested that most of the nurses know the significance and importance of handwashing in the nursing practice. But there are several other factors also that cause negligence towards hand hygiene. In this essay, the Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) is used for the critique of the research. Rolfe, Freshwater & Jasper (2001/11) reflective model is used to reflect on the findings of the evidence. It is generally based on the three questions -What, so what and now what? Both the articles were critically analyzed along with the other policies. It was also discussed in the essay how the perception of nurses plays an important role in the negligence towards hand hygiene. The negligence of hand hygiene practices in healthcare also affects the subordinates to be careless. Therefore, it was recommended that seniors should play their part as being influential actors with a positive attitude towards hand washing so their subordinates can also follow the same.

Relevancy Of Research Findings On Hand Hygiene In Nursing Practice

References

Ahmed, J., Malik, F., Memon, Z. A., Arif, T. B., Ali, A., Nasim, S., … & Khan, M. A. (2020). Compliance and knowledge of healthcare workers regarding hand hygiene and use of disinfectants: a study based in Karachi. Cureus, 12(2).

Aledeilah, R. D. I., El-Fetoh, N. M. A., Albaker, A., Aljabbab, A. A., Alkhannani, S. J., Almahroos, T. S., & Ali, A. M. B. (2018). Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice of hand hygiene among health care workers in Arar City, Saudi Arabia. The Egyptian Journal of Hospital Medicine, 70(3), 491-498.

Alshammari, M., Reynolds, K. A., Verhougstraete, M., & O’rourke, M. K. (2018, December). Comparison of perceived and observed hand hygiene compliance in healthcare workers in MERS-CoV endemic regions. In Healthcare (Vol. 6, No. 4, p. 122). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute.

Bimerew, M., & Muhawenimana, F. (2022). Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of nurses towards hand washing in infection prevention and control at a psychiatric hospital. International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences, 16, 100399.

Ceylan, B., Gunes, U., Baran, L., Ozturk, H., & Sahbudak, G. (2020). Examining the hand hygiene beliefs and practices of nursing students and the effectiveness of their handwashing behaviour. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29(21-22), 4057-4065.

Cha, K. S., Ko, J. W., Han, S. H., & Jung, K. H. (2018). A survey of nurses’ hand hygiene knowledge, perception and hand hygiene performance rate. Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing, 11(1), 101-109.

Ghaffari, M., Rakhshanderou, S., Safari-Moradabadi, A., & Barkati, H. (2020). Exploring determinants of hand hygiene among hospital nurses: a qualitative study. BMC nursing, 19(1), 1-9.

Graveto, J. M. G. D. N., Rebola, R. I. F., Fernandes, E. A., & Costa, P. J. D. S. (2018). Hand hygiene: nurses’ adherence after training. Revista brasileira de enfermagem, 71, 1189-1193.

Graveto, J. M., Santos, C., Costa, P. S., Fernandes, E., Alarico, S., Osório, N., … & Oliveira, V. (2018). Hand hygiene management among nurses: collective health challenges. Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem, 71, 562-567.

Hammerschmidt, J., & Manser, T. (2019). Nurses’ knowledge, behaviour and compliance concerning hand hygiene in nursing homes: a cross-sectional mixed-methods study. BMC health services research, 19(1), 1-13.

Hillier, M. D. (2020). Using effective hand hygiene practice to prevent and control infection. Nurs Stand, 35(5), 45-50.

Lenglet, A., van Deursen, B., Viana, R., Abubakar, N., Hoare, S., Murtala, A., … & Hopman, J. (2019). Inclusion of real-time hand hygiene observation and feedback in a multimodal hand hygiene improvement strategy in low-resource settings. JAMA network open, 2(8), e199118-e199118.

Oh, H. S. (2021, July). Knowledge, Perception, and Performance of Hand Hygiene and Their Correlation among Nursing Students in Republic of Korea. In Healthcare (Vol. 9, No. 7, p. 913). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute.

Ridley, N. (2020). Effective hand hygiene—wash your hands and reduce the risk. British Journal of Nursing, 29(1), 10-10.

Saitoh, A., Sato, K., Magara, Y., Osaki, K., Narita, K., Shioiri, K., … & Saint, S. (2020). Improving hand hygiene adherence in healthcare workers before patient contact: a multimodal intervention in four tertiary care hospitals in Japan. Journal of Hospital Medicine, 15(5), 262-267.  Importance Of Hand Hygiene In Nursing Practice Essay Paper