An average hand hygiene day for nurses and physicians: The burden is not equal

Area of Science:

• Healthcare quality and safety
• Infection prevention and control
• Occupational health

Background:

• Assessing the impact of workload on healthcare worker compliance with essential safety protocols.
• Investigating factors influencing hand hygiene adherence in a hospital setting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if the workload of hand hygiene opportunities (HHOs) affects compliance rates among nurses and physicians.
• To compare hand hygiene compliance and burden between nursing and physician staff.

Main Methods:

• Conducted observational study over 7 days in a university teaching hospital.
• Auditors recorded daily hand hygiene opportunities and compliance events for nurses and physicians on medical and surgical wards.
• Calculated alcohol-based handrub usage, hand hygiene burden, and compliance rates.

Main Results:

• Nurses experienced a significantly higher burden of HHOs (27 per shift) compared to physicians (8 per shift).
• Despite the higher burden, nurses exhibited 1.5 times greater hand hygiene compliance (76%) than physicians (52%).
• Alcohol-based handrub use accounted for 68% of all indicated hand hygiene events.

Conclusions:

• The higher hand hygiene compliance observed in nurses is not solely attributable to a lower burden of HHOs.
• Physician hand hygiene compliance appears to be influenced by factors beyond the frequency of hand hygiene opportunities.
• Findings suggest a need to explore additional determinants of hand hygiene adherence in different healthcare professional groups.