Evaluation of Nurses’ Views about Hand Washing Habits and Hand Hygiene Compliance Rates

Abstract

Aim: This descriptive and observational study was conducted to identify the opinions of nurses regarding hand washing habits and to assess their hand hygiene compliance rates. Methods: The nurses (n=63) were asked about their views regarding their hand hygiene habits. Nurses' hand hygiene compliance and hand washing behaviors were observed. Nurses were not aware that their hand washing behaviors were observed. Hand washing behaviors were assessed using the Hand-washing Observation Tool. Results: Nurses reported that they washed their hands frequently ("often" or "always") during routine patient caregiving in the hospital setting. Researchers observed a total of 703 hand-washing indications. Unlike the nurses' self-reports on hand-washing behaviors, the hand hygiene compliance rates were poor (ranging from 0% to 2.3%). Hand washing was performed using soap and water (54.7%) or alcohol disinfectant (45.3%). The majority of hand washing behaviors were not performed using the proper techniques or were only performed using partly proper techniques (97.8%). Only 2.2% of cases washed their hands using proper techniques. Of the nurses, 21% washed their hands for less than five seconds, 73.2% for five to fifteen seconds, and 5.8% for longer than fifteen seconds. Conclusion: The research found that self-reported hand washing habits of the nurses were good in general. However, the observations showed that hand hygiene compliance rates among nurses were extremely poor. The results revealed that there was a need to improve the nurses' attitudes towards hand washing and proper hand washing techniques as well as a need for hand hygiene education.

Relationship Between Self-Reported Hand Hygiene Beliefs and Hand Hygiene Practices in Nursing Students: A Structural Equation Modeling

“…This result proved that an increase in the hand hygiene beliefs of nursing students would affect their hand hygiene practices in a positive direction. There are similar studies in the literature where the positive relationship between hand hygiene beliefs and practices was discussed [5,6,21,25]. Nevertheless, it is believed that this study will contribute to the literature in terms of structurally testing the relationship between hand hygiene beliefs and hand hygiene practices.…”

“…Although it is emphasized in the literature that hand washing is the most important procedure alone in preventing infections, it is known that nurses' compliance with handwashing protocols is insufficient [1,[3][4][5]. Studies on this issue report that nurses' incompatibility with handwashing depends on several reasons.…”

Evaluation of Nurse's Hand Hygiene Knowledge, Belief and Practices During the Pandemic Period: Descriptive Research

“…27 Bu çalışmada; katılımcıların EH'nin gerekliliğine olan inanç düzeylerinin yüksek olduğu, bu durumun Türkiye'de ve yurt dışında yapılan çalışmalarla uyumluluk gösterdiği belirlenmiştir. 4,21,[28][29][30] El yıkamanın temelinde; ellerin temiz su ve sabunla yıkanması gelmektedir. Soğuk veya sıcak su ciltte kuruluğa neden olabileceği için ılık su, temizleyici olarak da antimikrobiyal, normal veya sıvı sabun tercih edilebilir.…”

Bir Üniversite Hastanesinin Sağlık Çalışanlarında COVID-19 Korkusu ve El Hijyeni Uygulamalarının Değerlendirilmesi

“…The present study determined that in the first stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, the most frequently used hand hygiene material within the last three months was alcohol-based hand disinfectant along with water and soap by 62.9%. In the study by Karaoğlu and Akın (2019), the most frequently used material for hand hygiene by nurses was alcohol-based hand disinfectant besides water and soap, with a rate of 81.6%. In another study conducted by Toraman et al (2009) within the intensive care unit of a private hospital, 1397 occasions in total that require hand washing were identified.…”

“…In the observational research conducted by Karaoğlu and Akın (2019), 21% of handwashing processes took less than 5 seconds, 73.2% took 5-15 seconds, 5.8% took longer than 15 seconds, and 77.8% of the nurses dried their hands after the handwashing process. In this research, the rate of those who reported handwashing to take between 15-30 seconds was 75.3%, and that of those drying their hands with a paper towel after handwashing was 93.8%.…”