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Handwashing quality: impact of a special program
B Coignard1, B Grandbastien, Y Berrouane
1Service d'Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique, Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire, Lille, France. bcoignard@univ-lille2.fr
Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology
|August 14, 1998
Summary
A handwashing program improved basic handwashing quality (BHW) in a hospital, but adherence remained low. Further study into simpler hand hygiene alternatives is recommended.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Quality Improvement
- Infection Control
- Hospital Hygiene Practices
Background:
- Basic handwashing quality is crucial for preventing healthcare-associated infections.
- Compliance with proper hand hygiene protocols is often suboptimal in clinical settings.
- Evaluating interventions to improve handwashing is essential for patient safety.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the effectiveness of an educational program on improving basic handwashing (BHW) quality.
- To quantify changes in adherence to a standardized 13-step handwashing protocol.
- To identify potential areas for improvement in hospital hand hygiene strategies.
Main Methods:
- A before-and-after audit design was employed in a university hospital setting.
- A 13-step protocol was established to define proper basic handwashing technique.
- Handwashing quality was assessed by observing adherence to the defined protocol.
Main Results:
- The proportion of correctly performed basic handwashes increased significantly post-intervention.
- Pre-intervention BHW quality was 4.2%, rising to 18.6% after the program.
- Despite improvement, the overall adherence to the 13-step protocol remained low.
Conclusions:
- The educational program demonstrated a statistically significant, yet modest, improvement in basic handwashing quality.
- The persistently low adherence rates suggest limitations of the current basic handwashing protocol.
- Further research into simpler, more effective hand hygiene alternatives is warranted.