Effective hand hygiene is essential to reduce nosocomial infections



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15 second friction

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a 30-second application of a six-step hand washing and disinfecting regime that could keep infections away. New research entitled "Simplifying the WHO protocol for hand hygiene, three steps and 15 seconds: a randomized crossover trial" and presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Amsterdam , Netherlands, 13-16 April suggests that hand rubs could achieve the same result in a three-step procedure for 15 seconds.

Image Credit: Santypan / Shutterstock

Image Credit: Santypan / Shutterstock

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are widely used in hospitals and other facilities for the control of infections. This hand hygiene could be a crucial measure to prevent and reduce the spread of infections. No studies have evaluated best practices that can reduce infections. The six-step hand sanitization technique recommended by the WHO is effective at killing bacteria. This study shows that a simple three-step 15-second hand sanitizer could be just as effective at killing bacteria as it is for improving user adherence.

Dr. Sarah Tschudin-Sutter and her colleagues at the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, have tried their hand disinfection treatment in three steps, in 15 seconds, as part of a randomized crossover trial. They recruited 20 healthy participants aged 18 to 51 years old. They were randomly badigned to four different handwashing techniques, including:

  • Hand hygiene in six steps for 30 seconds
  • Hand hygiene in six steps for 15 seconds
  • Hand hygiene in three steps for 30 seconds and
  • Hand hygiene in three steps for 15 seconds

All participants were in turn badigned to each group.

The results revealed that the 15-second three-step technique was as effective as reducing the number of bacteria on volunteers' hands in a 30-second, three- or six-step regimen.

Professor Tschudin-Sutter said in a statement: "The pressure of time and the heavy workload of health workers is reducing compliance with hand hygiene standards. Our results suggest that shortening the hand rub time and simplifying the technique of using hand sanitizer could be a safe alternative, easier to integrate into their busy routine, improve the overall quality of performance. of hand hygiene and have a positive effect on compliance. Further studies are needed to validate the performance of reduced application time in daily clinical practice. "

The team agreed that the study could not make general statements about the ability of the three-step regimen to stop the transmission of microbes unless studied in a real clinical setting.

Hand hygiene and reduction of staphylococcal infections

In 2009, the Australian National Initiative for Hand Hygiene (NHHI) was implemented and since then, the reduction of Staph infections in health facilities has improved considerably. The results of this new study, "Improving Hand Hygiene Compliance (HHC)," are badociated with a significant reduction in health-badociated Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia rates (HA Sab) in women's health care settings. Largest hospitals in Australia: NHHI), were presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from April 13th to 16th.

The report suggests that there has been a significant improvement in hand hygiene and its adherence among Australian health care workers. This has reduced the risk of transmission of often life-threatening illnesses badociated with health care. Staphylococcus aureus infection. The researchers noted that for every 10% increase in compliance with the recommendations for hand hygiene, there was a 15% reduction in the incidence of S. aureus blood infection among the 132 largest public hospitals in Australia, as shown in the study. They add that these hospitals host more than 15 million patient days across the country in 2016-17. This translates into more than three-quarters of the hospital care provided to the Australian population.

The team was following WHO's "5 Moments for Hand Hygiene" campaign, which would reduce the risk of healthcare-badociated infections.

These five moments include:

  • Before touching a patient
  • After touching a patient
  • After touching the environment of a patent
  • Before a clean procedure
  • After exposure to body fluids / wounds

Professor Lindsay Grayson of Hand Hygiene Australia and the study manager said, "Hospital-acquired infections are a major concern for hospitals around the world. S. aureus is among the most dangerous. The risks for patients are enormous, as are the badociated hospital costs. Despite strong evidence for improved hand hygiene practices, it is notoriously difficult to enforce the rules, and few national programs have been maintained in the long term. Researchers and experts say that S. aureus is the main Gram-positive bacterium leading to nosocomial infections. Some of these diseases, such as endocarditis, acute pneumonia and sepsis, could become fatal and good hand hygiene could keep them at bay.

The team in this study has reviewed the results of the NHHI for eight years since its inception. The timing of the study was from January 2009 to June 2017. Three times of the year, hand hygiene times were observed and recorded. The impact of this program was badessed using hospital data linkage. S. aureus infections.

The results showed that compliance (observed) times for hand hygiene were 64% (36,213 out of 56,978 potential handwash or hygeine opportunities) in 2009. 84% (494,673 out of 586,559 potential washing or hand hygiene opportunities) in 2017. The team examined respect for hand hygiene times among physicians, nurses and the allied personnel. They found that hand hygiene compliance was 10 to 15% lower among medical staff compared to nurses over the 8 years of the study. In addition, each 10% increase in hand hygiene compliance reduced S. aureus 15 percent infection that they found. Cases of S. aureus Infection increased from 1.27 new cases per 10,000 bed-days in 2010-2011 to 0.87 per 10,000 bed-days in 2016-17.

Professor Grayson said in a statement: "The Australian National Hand Hygiene Initiative has achieved impressive results, both in terms of improving the compliance of health workers with hand hygiene. and in combination with reduced rates of staphylococcal bacteremia badociated with health care. Few national programs have been successfully integrated into national health care structures. "

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