Sunkesula, V. C., Kundrapu, S., Knighton, S., Cadnum, J. L., & Donskey, C. J. (2017). A randomized trial to determine the impact of an educational patient hand-hygiene intervention on contamination of hospitalized patient’s hands with healthcare-associated pathogens. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 38(5), 595-597. Web.
The authors conducted a quantitative randomized trial (non-blinded) to identify a possible effect of a specific educational hand-hygiene intervention on the spread of healthcare-associated bacteria and viruses. Sunkesula et al. (2017) focused on testing the hypothesis on whether the hand-hygiene intervention could contribute to reducing the contamination of patients’ hands with pathogens. The sample included 95 newly admitted patients, among those only one participant was a female. The median age was 62 years, and patients with dementia or limited possibilities to conduct hand hygiene were excluded from the sample. The study was conducted in Cleveland, Ohio, based on the setting of Cleveland Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center. This center is a 210-bed facility providing acute care services. The researchers implemented an educational hand-hygiene intervention for patients in contrast to providing hand sanitizers (Sunkesula et al., 2017). They found that, in those patients following the intervention, the amount of pathogen culture on hands significantly reduced in comparison to the control group.
Ay, P., Teker, A. G., Hidiroglu, S., Tepe, P., Surmen, A., Sili, U., Korten, V., & Karavus, M. (2019). A qualitative study of hand hygiene compliance among health care workers in intensive care units. The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries, 13(2), 111-117. Web.
The researchers conducted a qualitative study based on focus group discussions and interviews. Ay et al. (2019) were interested in addressing the research question of why poor hand hygiene adherence could be observed among healthcare providers in intensive care units. The sample of the research included 25 participants performing the roles of nurses, physicians, administrators, and interns in the chosen facility. They were involved in focus group sessions and interviews organized to address the principles of the Theory of Planned Behavior (Betz et al., 2018; Schmidt & Brown, 2019). The participants were selected to provide as many opinions on the issue as possible. The setting of the study was a teaching hospital located in Istanbul, Turkey. The authors found that healthcare providers and administrators followed hand hygiene referring to the emotional factor and their personal views regarding “dirtiness.” Therefore, the researchers concluded on the necessity of training for nurses and physicians, along with other healthcare professionals, to guarantee they follow the rules and policies on hand hygiene in a hospital.
References
Betz, C. L., Krajicek, M. J., & Craft-Rosenberg, M. (Eds.). (2018). Guidelines for nursing excellence in the care of children, youth, and families (2nd ed.). Springer Publishing Company.
Schmidt, N. A., & Brown, J. M. (2019). Evidence-based practice for nurses: Appraisal and application of research (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.