![]() Competition also increases the rate of HHA in each hospital’s OT. The authors also mention that comparisons between hospitals could lead to friendly competition on which has the higher HHA rate. This information will help infection preventionists to know which departments need extra assistance. Some strengths of this study included the following: enabling uniform hand hygiene observations from one hospital to another, specifically designed for nonsterile HCW in the OT. Considering patients undergoing surgery are vulnerable to infection, exposure to infection risks in the OT should be kept as low as possible,” the authors wrote. “Nonetheless, adequate hand hygiene in the OT by nonsterile HCW and surgeons (performing nonsterile actions) is of utmost importance to prevent postoperative wound infections. Interestingly, the average HHA scores from anesthesiologists were the lowest,31.6%, (95% CI, 19.2%-62.4%), whereas OT assistants scored the highest, at 57.4% (95% CI, 50.1%-78.2%). Across all hospitals, an average HHA rate of 48.0% (95% CI, 45.2%-61.2%) was observed in OTs. Generally, hand hygiene should be performed when moving from one area to another. Visual representation of the OT, divided into 4 hand hygiene areas. Written hand hygiene rules specifically for anesthesia and surgeryģ. Using the tool, investigators calculated HHA rates by type of hospital and HCW.Ģ. Once the protocol was agreed upon, an observation tool was developed and tested. Because these hospitals did not have specific hand hygiene protocols for nonsterile HCWs in the OT, the investigators created one with the hospitals’ input. The study included 9 hospitals in the Rotterdam-Rijnmond region. Health care workers should apply hand hygiene when changing from patient zone to health care zone, and vice versa.” The patient zone includes everything that is attached to the patient or belongs to a specific patient, while everything that is not patient specific is referred to as health care zone. “These 5 moments are the golden standard and are in general easy to apply on clinical wards where there is a clear distinction between the patient zone and the health care zone. ![]() “Furthermore, regardless of the department or health care setting, hand hygiene observations are often performed by using the 5 moments of hand hygiene as stated by the World Health Organization (WHO),” the investigators wrote in the study. In the Rotterdam-Rijnmond region, the HHA rate in the OT was below 50% and needed to be addressed in teaching hospitals and among physicians.īecause the Netherlands does not have protocols or observations tools in the OT, witnessing nonsterile health care workers (HCWs) perform HHA proved difficult, and a protocol needed to be created. van Dijk, Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and colleagues, this uniform way of observing hand hygiene adherence (HHA) in the OT enables evaluation of the effectiveness of interventions in the OT and facilitates friendly competition. Findings from a prospective observational study 1 on health care workers’ adherence to a novel hand hygiene protocol in the operating theater (OT) were published recently in The Journal of Hospital Infection.Īccording to Manon D.
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