Safe care pathways: hand hygiene observational sheets - 2023

Abstract

Background: the incidence of care-related infections (ICA) is an emerging critical issue in the international and nation. Clinical practice if not supported by up-to-date scientific evidence may be ineffective if not harmful. Given that several scientific evidence affirms that an appropriate training program is the key element for success in controlling and reducing ICA, it was decided to investigate the correlation between Evidence-based Practice (EBP) knowledge and ICA through observance of proper hand hygiene. 

Aims: The study aims to implement a system of staff accountability in which explicit actions are put in place to motivate health professionals to be responsible for their behaviors necessary to ensure safe care settings.
Methods: the observational study was conducted with the help of the WHO framework for hand hygiene self-assessment applied to all health professionals in the OO.RR. of Vittoria and Comiso - ASP Ragusa. The aforementioned framework is a systematic tool, useful to acquire both basic knowledge and activate virtuous pathways in order to promote hand hygiene.
Results: the overall compliance of hand hygiene adherence, detected in each observational form, is 70.6 percent. It is inferred that, from the baseline analysis, where hand hygiene adherence was 54%, it increased significantly by 14% (Q2), to 20% (Q3) and 32% (Q4) (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions: the framework for hand hygiene self-assessment also helps to focus on future projects and challenges. In particular,
it represents a predictive tool, to identify key issues that need attention and continuous improvement. The implementation
of evidence-based best practices is proving increasingly relevant in daily practice, particularly in the sensitive issues related to
prevention of infectious risk and in promoting, among healthcare professionals, the application of the same in various care settings.