Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Flawed self-assessment in hand-hygiene: a major contributor to infections in clinical practice?

Journal of Clinical Nursing 2019 Februrary 21
AIM: To assess the quality of self-assessment and the attitude of healthcare workers (HCWs) to hand hygiene (HH) as possible factors of unsatisfactory HH compliance in clinical practice.

BACKGROUND: Non-compliance of hand hygiene causes healthcare-acquired infections (HAI) in patients. It is assumed that hand hygiene-related infections make up approximately 80% of all infections in clinical practice. Our observations suggest that self-assessment and attitude might be surprisingly important factors.

DESIGN AND METHOD: The cross-sectional approach using questionnaire and direct observation was applied. We followed STROBE guidelines. In total, questionnaires of 639 HCWs of surgical departments were included in the study, and 127 HCWs had been also directly observed.

RESULTS: High self-assessment regarding HH compliance and its knowledge was reported by 74% and 83% of HCWs, respectively. At the same time, only 51% of HCWs positively evaluated their colleagues with respect to hand hygiene. Similar to previous studies, we have found significant differences between physicians and nurses regarding the level of self-assessment, attitude and perception of hand hygiene. Physicians were more critical in self-assessment, and considered HH less important compared to nurses. The observations revealed drawbacks in hand hygiene practices. The high level of self-overassessment might be a contributing factor to non-compliance with hand hygiene.

CONCLUSION: It is necessary to establish systematic professional training and education of HCWs in relation to their hand hygiene, and to continuously monitor and evaluate the level of self-assessment in clinical practice, mainly in surgery.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: A reasonable objective level of self-assessment and attitude to HH are the most important conditions for preventing of HAI in patients. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app