The Hand Hygiene Essay Example Paper

The Hand Hygiene Essay Example Paper

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emphasizes that hand hygiene is an important step in avoiding the spread of germs and illnesses. Hands should be washed with soap and clean running water for at least 20 seconds. CDC (2022) notes that hand washing reduces the number of people sick with diarrhea by 23–40%, respiratory illnesses by 16–21%, and overuse of antibiotics. According to the World Health Organization, handwashing is an effective tool in the prevention of diseases, including COVID-19, which is transmitted through contaminated surfaces, close contact with infected people, or infected body fluids. The Hand Hygiene Essay Example Paper

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COVID-19 spreads rapidly, and hand hygiene alongside other public health measures has proven effective in controlling its spread. Healthcare workers are in close contact with patients when offering care and treatment and are at an increased risk of contracting COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. Promoting hand hygiene at all levels of healthcare is critical to reducing the spread of infections and ensuring better health outcomes. Hand hygiene is an accepted primary mode of reducing hospital acquired infections (WHO, 2020). Healthcare workers are aware of the importance of hand hygiene as an integral part of a daily routine, especially in the light of COVID-19. However, in my organization, healthcare workers are reluctant to adhere to hand hygiene protocol since the COVID-19 pandemic. This essay will review empirical studies and identify evidence-based guidelines to improve handwashing compliance The Hand Hygiene Essay Example Paper .

Literature Review

Bella et al. (2021) studied the socioeconomic and behavioral factors associated with COVID-19 infection in healthcare workers. The study established that frequent application of the six-step hand washing protocol, knowledge of PPE standards, and its use were associated with a lower risk of infection. Also, a larger household was associated with an increased risk of COVID-19 infection. The study noted that frequent hand washing may protect healthcare workers from COVID-19 infection. The six-step hand washing technique was hypothesized to be more effective compared to the non-six-step handwashing protocol in COVID-19 prevention. Luszczynska et al. (2022) did a longitudinal study to investigate whether strict containment measures, health policies, and self-regulation promoted adherence to handwashing. The study revealed that the strictness of policies was associated with a high level of handwashing adherence. However, stricter containment measures and policies were associated with lower hand-washing adherence. Self-regulation and self-efficacy, which is a person’s belief in their ability to overcome barriers and control situations, were found to be key factors in sustaining action The Hand Hygiene Essay Example Paper .

Lin et al. (2020) conducted a study on the relationship between Google searches for “wash hands” and the rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases by hypothesizing that key word searching would reflect the level of literacy on COVID-19 preventive measures. The study found out that increased searches for “wash hands” on Google corresponded to a lower rate of COVID-19 after the searches. This implies that increased awareness of handwashing can improve adherence. Gaikwad et al. (2022) conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study to analyze PPE breaches and all COVID-19 exposures among healthcare workers while providing care to COVID-19 patients. The findings revealed that appropriate use of PPEs was important to protect healthcare workers. PPE breaches occurred when handling COVID-19 patients and were attributed to physical and mental exhaustion due to a huge workload. The study suggested that training on PPE donning and doffing would prevent infections associated with PPE breaches The Hand Hygiene Essay Example Paper

Elshaer & Agage (2022) assessed the factors associated with infection prevention compliance and the associated risk perception and compliance with PPEs and hand hygiene. The findings revealed that more than 95% of the nurses were aware of the COVID-19 risks and consequences, as well as how the risks can be reduced through the use of PPE and other measures. Factors that promoted compliance with PPEs included availability of PPEs, comfort in using PPEs, confirmed COVID-19 cases in the hospital, and hospital policy. There was an association between risk perceptions, knowledge of hand hygiene and PPEs, and compliance. The study suggested that knowledge of infection control measures and a high personal risk perception can improve compliance.

Differences and similarities in the problem identified and what is discussed in the literature review

The reviewed studies have revealed that handwashing is an important and effective tool in disease prevention, which concurs with the problem identified. In addition, the studies noted that handwashing hygiene compliance was not absolute, as also identified in my organization. The study by Luszczynska et al. (2022) considered the mediating role of psychosocial factors such as motivation, self-regulation, and self-efficacy in promoting adherence to handwashing, which is not identified in the current problem. The study by Bella et al. (2021) investigated the socioeconomic and behavioral aspects of adherence to COVID-19. All five studies have proposed measures which can improve adherence to hand hygiene. The organization seeks to apply some of the identified evidence-based guidelines to promote handwashing compliance. Some of the reviewed literature has identified several factors associated with compliance, as opposed to my organization, which has not identified barriers to handwashing adherence The Hand Hygiene Essay Example Paper .

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Significance of the problem and its impact on patient outcomes, nursing practice, and global environment

WHO recommends proper handwashing as an effective measure for infection control and prevention. Hand hygiene is a simple and cost-effective method to prevent hospital acquired infections. Healthcare workers play an important role in protecting patients from infections by complying with hand hygiene protocols. Good hand hygiene among healthcare workers has been associated with decreased infection rates and lower mortality rates among patients. Compliance saves on costs that would have been incurred treating infections emanating from poor hand hygiene and its resultant complications. According to Suen et al. (2019), effective hand hygiene has been associated with positive patient outcomes.

Hand hygiene is a nursing practice issue as failure to comply can result in adverse patient outcomes. Proper hand washing can prevent nurses from contracting infectious diseases and spreading them to patients. The efficacy of hand hygiene in controlling the spread of COVID-19 cannot be downplayed, but compliance levels remain low globally. The World Health Organization has led several global initiatives using a multimodal approach to promote hand hygiene. The initiatives have been successful in reducing healthcare associated infections, antimicrobial resistance, and controlling outbreaks.

Evidence-based guidelines identified in the literature to address the problem

Luszczynska et al. (2022) proposed the use of public health policies to promote handwashing adherence as a health behavior pattern. Policy variation would shape how individuals act by changing their personal beliefs. To promote handwashing adherence, it is necessary to enhance information dissemination and use psychosocial intervention to motivate self-regulation and self-efficacy, which in turn would increase adherence levels. The findings derived from the Lin et al. (2020) study proposed that handwashing campaigns can be used as an approach to promote adherence to handwashing. Gaikwad et al. (2022) proposed training and demonstration of infection control practice protocols would help in improving compliance. In addition, the creation of a conductive work environment would help in reducing PPE breaches and low adherence to infection control techniques. Gaikwad et al. (2022) also suggested that routine and documented monitoring of compliance with hand hygiene and the availability of hand hygiene products can improve compliance. Elshaer and Agage (2022) suggested that healthcare workers’ knowledge and perception of infection control measures can be increased through continuous training. The Hand Hygiene Essay Example Paper

References

Bella, A., Akbar, M. T., Kusnadi, G., Herlinda, O., Regita, P. A., & Kusuma, D. (2021). Socioeconomic and behavioral correlates of COVID-19 infections among hospital workers in the Greater Jakarta Area, Indonesia: a cross-sectional study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(10), 5048. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/10/5048/htm

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Show Me the Science-Why Wash Your Hands. https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/why-handwashing.html#

Elshaer, N., & Agage, H. (2022). Nurses’ perception and compliance with personal protective equipment and hand hygiene during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association, 97(1). https://doi.org/10.1186%2Fs42506-022-00109-1

Gaikwad, U. N., Bose, O., Padhi, A., Jindal, A., Nagpure, K., Bhargava, A., & Das, P. (2022). A retrospective observational insight into COVID-19 exposures resulting from personal protective equipment (PPE) breaches. PloS one, 17(5), e0268582. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0268582

Lin, Y. H., Liu, C. H., & Chiu, Y. C. (2020). Google searches for the keywords of “wash hands” predict the speed of national spread of COVID-19 outbreak among 21 countries. Brain, behavior, and immunity, 87, 30-32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.01.20087858 The Hand Hygiene Essay Example Paper

Luszczynska, A., Szczuka, Z., Abraham, C., Baban, A., Brooks, S., Cipolletta, S., … & Wolf, H. (2022). The interplay between strictness of policies and individuals’ self-regulatory efforts: Associations with handwashing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 56(4), 368-380. https://academic.oup.com/abm/article/56/4/368/6454393

Suen, L. K., So, Z. Y., Yeung, S. K., Lo, K. Y., & Lam, S. C. (2019). Epidemiological investigation on hand hygiene knowledge and behaviour: a cross-sectional study on gender disparity. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 1-14. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-6705-5

World Health Organization. (2020). Handwashing an effective tool to prevent COVID-19, other diseases. https://www.who.int/southeastasia/news/detail/15-10-2020-handwashing-an-effective-tool-to-prevent-covid-19-other-diseases

Assignment 1

For this assignment, in 2-3 pages, identify and define a problem at your organization or in your practice. Provide a review of at least 5 current peer-reviewed research articles that discuss and address the problem. Discuss how the problem you identified is similar to and different than what is discussed in the current body of knowledge. Provide evidence regarding the significance of the problem, and how the problem has and can impact nursing practice, patient and/or student outcomes, and global healthcare or educational environments. Discuss at least three of the potential solutions and/or evidence-based guidelines that were used in the literature to address the problem. Remember you are gathering the literature that will support an evidence-based research project.

The problem is the importance of handwashing since COVID 19 pandemic does not seem to be recognized. I ran through a list of possible references to use. The one by Lin et al must be included.

References: The Hand Hygiene Essay Example Paper

Aemro, A., Fentie, B., & Wassie, M. (2022). Adherence to Covid-19 mitigation measures and its associated factors among health care workers at referral hospitals in Amhara regional state of Ethiopia. PLoS One, 17(8) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272570

Alzyood, M., Jackson, D., Aveyard, H., & Brooke, J. (2020). COVID-19 reinforces the importance of handwashing. Journal of clinical nursing, 29(15-16), 2760–2761. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15313

Burns, E. S., Pathmarajah, P., & Muralidharan, V. (2021). Physical and psychological impacts of handwashing and personal protective equipment usage in the COVID‐19 pandemic: A UK based cross‐sectional analysis of healthcare workers. Dermatologic therapy, 34(3), e14885.

D’Souza, K., Campbell, K., Alsiyabi, A., Davis, S., Hou, L., Zhao, R., & Williams, J. (2022). Hand hygiene: A student nurse perspective. Kai Tiaki : Nursing New Zealand, , 1-8. http://americansentinel.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/hand-hygiene-student-nurse-perspective/docview/2649317413/se-2

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Sahiledengle, B., Tekalegn, Y., Takele, A., Zenbaba, D., Teferu, Z., Tasew, A., … & Quisido, B. J. E. (2020). Hand Washing Compliance and COVID-19: A Non-Participatory Observational Study among Hospital Visitors. medRxiv The Hand Hygiene Essay Example Paper