Hand hygiene in the intensive care unit

Abstract

Adherence to hand hygiene recommendations in the intensive care unit (ICU) is variable and moderate, at the best. This observational study aimed to measure adherence to hand hygiene recommendations among ICU clinicians in 4 multidisciplinary ICUs at Chitwan Medical College Teaching Hospital, Chitwan. Researchers observed 100 clinicians (79 nurses, 13 medical officers and 8 physicians and pediatricians) during patient encounter. Clinicians were unaware that they were under observation. We documented use of gloves, soap and alcohol solution before and after patient encounters for purposes of physical examination or patient care. 80% of clinicians used some form of hand hygiene without fully adhering to recommendations, whereas 20% did not appear to attend to hand hygiene at all during observation. Among 80 clinicians who used some form of hand hygiene, 30% of clinicians adhering to recommendations used gloves followed by washing with soap or alcohol solution. Hence, Multidisciplinary approaches to improving hand hygiene is necessary to improve the modest adherence to hand hygiene that researchers observed.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jcmc.v5i1.12559