Hand hygiene in medical organizations: implementation of the concept as an effective measure for HAI prevention

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study aimed at substantiating hand hygiene in medical organizations as the most effective measure for preventing HCAI in the framework of the implementation of the National Concept for the Prevention of Infections Associated with Medical Care (approved by the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation on November 6, 2011). It was found that healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) are an urgent problem of modern Russian healthcare. The main causes of HCAI are insufficiently effective infection control methods in medical organizations and the overuse of antimicrobials. In the course of the study, such methods as content analysis, literature review, ranking, hypothetical-deductive method, generalization, formalization were used. The materials used were articles published in international bibliographic and abstract databases (Scopus, PubMed); official documents of the Russian Federation, as well as international documents (legislative acts, programs, conventions, etc.) on infections related to the provision of medical care. The performed systematic literature analysis suggests that one of the main measures to prevent HCAI is hand hygiene. It was found that the maximum result in the prevention of HCAI can be achieved through the implementation of a multimodal approach. Based on available scientific research, 5 key points have been identified when hand hygiene is mandatory for healthcare professionals. It was concluded that HCAI prevention should be multimodal, with successful implementation of HCAI prevention requiring cultural shifts at the hospital level, and coordination at the national level is needed to address the serious threat posed by HCAI.