Hand hygiene Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Hand hygiene - Essay Example With this being a retrospective project, no questionnaires will be involved (no human involvement) but only collection/evaluation of pre and post data from the infection/risk and quality department within the sampled acute care center. Any or all actions that are meant to clean hands by any person may describe what hand hygiene refers to. It involves such practices as washing hands using water as well as soap or even the application of non-water antimicrobial rub on hands as are all meant to reduce if not eliminate all microorganisms on the hands (Corrigan, 2013; Medvick, 2008). ‘Hospital acquired infection’ (HAI) refers to the infection that a patient may be diagnosed with after admission of any form of medical attendance within the medical facilities and as such it implies that the infection was not present as the patient came into the facility for the health service(s) (Weinstock, 2007). It must therefore be acquired through health care delivery and hands hygiene has been pointed out as the greatest contributor to such outcomes (Cantrell, 2013). Health care facilities and providers have therefore a mandatory responsibility of ensuring that hand hygiene is promoted in order to curb the losses in lif e and costs associated with the resultant infections from poor hand hygiene within these medical facilities. This paper therefore focuses on the effects of poor hand hygiene by healthcare providers on HAI with special attention on compliance by health care providers and main factors that could explain the poor hygiene within health facilities amidst the extensive and serious campaigns on hand hygiene within these facilities (Cantrell, 2014). Although this topic has been addressed intensively over years, little studies have been directed towards implications of compliance of health care providers on observing hands hygiene. Many factors