Hand Hygiene Teaching Strategies among Nursing Staff: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: Patient safety is a priority of any healthcare system, and one of the most effective measures is hand hygiene. For this, it is important that health staff have correct adherence and perform the technique properly. Otherwise, the incidence of nosocomial infections can increase, with consequent complications. The aim here was to analyze hand hygiene training and the effectiveness of different methods and educational strategies among nurses and whether they maintained correct adherence over time. Methods: A systematic review was conducted in the sources CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), Dialnet, Lilacs (Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature), ProQuest (Proquest Health and Medical Complete), Medline, SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online), and Scopus. The search equation with Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) descriptors was “Nurs* AND (handwashing OR hand hygiene) AND clinical trial”. The review was performed following the recommendations of the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. Results: n = 17 clinical trials were included, with a total of 5747 nurses and nursing students. Strategies such as reminder sounds, practical simulations, videos, and audiovisual media improved handwashing compliance. Adherence overtime increased by up to 60%. The greatest effectiveness was related to the use of povidone–iodine, which reduced colony formation compared Hand hygiene teaching strategies among nursing staff: a systematic review to soap. Conclusions: The strategies that go beyond teaching techniques such as lectures may be more effective at increasing hand hygiene compliance. Combined approaches to learning/instruction improve user satisfaction by enabling self-management, flexibility, and repetition.

Social Distancing among Medical Students during the 2019 Coronavirus Disease Pandemic in China: Disease Awareness, Anxiety Disorder, Depression, and Behavioral Activities

“…A quarter (25.6%) of the students considered it hard to wash their hands for at least 20 s and less than a third (31.6%) washed their hands over 20 s frequently. Given that good hand hygiene can effectively prevent virus transmission [ 20 ] and washing hands for at least 20 s is a basic component of hand hygiene as per the World Health Organization (WHO, Geneva, Switzerland), it was disappointing to learn from medical students that they found this challenging [ 21 ].…”

Nurses’ Adherence to Patient Safety Principles: A Systematic Review

“…Taking responsibility for actions and behaviours through education and feedback is a crucial aspect of professional practice [75]. The empowerment of nurses to intervene based on care standards is an expectation of healthcare leaders which can be achieved through the development of the culture of patient safety [33,[76][77][78], the implementation of educational programs, and timely feedback and reminders [79][80][81]. Further, the use of standard processes, supported by validated tools, guided nurses and facilitated their adherence to patient-safety principles.…”

Exploring determinants of hand hygiene among hospital nurses: a qualitative study

“…Hospital infections are recognized among the key risk factors in healthcare centers. HH stands as the first step that needs to be taken to control these infections [6]. Evidence has it that there exists a wide gap between what people know and how they behave in the healthcare system [7].…”

“…Unawareness of HH guidelines, unawareness of emergency cases of HH upon providing a patient with healthcare services and unawareness of the risk of transmitting infectious factors are the main obstacles to HH. Moreover, a number of the medical staff believed that they would wash their hands when necessary, but on examination it became clear that they were not doing so [6].…”