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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · J Lab Physicians 2021; 13(02): 148-150
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1730820
Original Article

Impact of Hand Hygiene on Hospital-Acquired Infection Rate in Neuro Trauma ICU at a Level 1 Trauma Center in the National Capital Region of India

Sandeep Boora
1   Department of Hospital Administration, Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Parul Singh
2   Department of Microbiology, Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Roshni Dhakal
3   Infection Control Nurse, Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Dennis Victor
3   Infection Control Nurse, Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Jacinta Gunjiyal
3   Infection Control Nurse, Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Amit Lathwal
1   Department of Hospital Administration, Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Purva Mathur
2   Department of Microbiology, Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
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Abstract

Introduction Compliance to hand hygiene (HH) is an important measure in preventing infections to patients in health-care settings. Wellness and safety of patients and health-care workers (HCWs) can be achieved by promoting best practices in infection control through education and advocacy.

Aims and Objectives To assess the compliance to HH among all cadres of HCWs and its association with hospital-acquired infection (HAI) in patients.

Materials and Methods A prospective, observational study was conducted for a period of 5 years (January 2014 to December 2018) in Neuro Trauma intensive care unit. A standard checklist based on World Health Organization’s 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene was used as a tool to measure the HH compliance.

Results HAI rate was found to be directly proportional to the compliance to HH. Reduction in HAI rates was reported when there was an increase in HH compliance. HAI of 4.25% was found to be lowest in the year 2015 with the compliance to HH of 63.65%. The HH compliance was also found to be highest (64.63%) in the year 2016 followed by 64.12% in the year 2017. During this period HAI rates were 4.35% and 4.8%, respectively. When the HH compliance declined in the year 2018 to 53.95%, there was an increase in the rate of HAI to 6.9%.

Conclusion It could be concluded that HH compliance was associated with the decrease in HAIs. HH could be a simple and cost-effective method in the prevention of HAIs.

Keywords

hand hygiene - health care workers - hospital-acquired infection


Publication History

Article published online:
25 June 2021

© 2021. The Indian Association of Laboratory Physicians. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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