Proper Hand Hygiene In Nursing Practices

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The protection of patients and communities is a defining tenant of nursing built into the professions’ ethical creed (American Nurses Association, 2001). One method health care workers, particularly nurses, can use to protect those under their care is the execution of proper hand hygiene. The cleaning of hands has been known to limit the spread of disease for nearly two centuries, but the theoretically simple practice has faced challenges with changing recommendations and multi-factorial barriers to compliance (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2002).
Proper hand hygiene is associated with reduced transmission of disease, and preventing the spread of emerging multidrug-resistant pathogens (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, …show more content…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) (2002) issues recommendations on the proper performance of hand hygiene, but without a legal mandate, institutions are self-governing and create their own policies. This allows for some variability in practice. Current CDC recommendations instruct healthcare workers to perform hand hygiene by washing all surfaces of the hand with soap and water for at least 15 seconds, or rub all surfaces of the hands with enumerated antimicrobial agents and allow drying to take place. These procedures are to take place before and after any patient contact or procedure. Tremendous variation exists amongst institutions and literature with regards to more specific …show more content…
Hand hygiene compliance audits should not take place in a bubble between surveyors and managers. Audits must be used as a tool to provide real-time feedback to staff. This feedback is found to be effective in changing and individuals behavior (Spruce, 2013). Furthermore, publicly being recognized for not providing hand hygiene can instill negative feelings surrounding poor compliance, as suggested by Wilson et al. (2011) and build a culture which views dirty hands with disgust. Wilson et al. (2011) also note that this feedback intervention need not be permanent, and helps develop a sustained culture of hand washing. To actually provide feedback to another staff member regarding their compliance with hand hygiene requires some internal fortitude and courage. However, this social intervention appears most effective in improving hand hygiene
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