Feasibility of Direct Observation and Consumption Method for Hand Hygiene Compliance in an Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Emerging pandemics, rampant multidrug resistance, and diversity of healthcare-associated infections entail hand hygiene (HH) compliance, surveillance, and documentation as the cornerstone of infection control practices. Methods: HH adherence rates (HHARs) were determined by the WHO'...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bineeta Kashyap, Rajat Jhamb, Rituparna Saha, Pratima Prasad, N. P. Singh
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2021-04-01
Series:Indian Journal of Medical Specialities
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/injms.injms_165_20
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849224518370852864
author Bineeta Kashyap
Rajat Jhamb
Rituparna Saha
Pratima Prasad
N. P. Singh
author_facet Bineeta Kashyap
Rajat Jhamb
Rituparna Saha
Pratima Prasad
N. P. Singh
author_sort Bineeta Kashyap
collection DOAJ
description Background: Emerging pandemics, rampant multidrug resistance, and diversity of healthcare-associated infections entail hand hygiene (HH) compliance, surveillance, and documentation as the cornerstone of infection control practices. Methods: HH adherence rates (HHARs) were determined by the WHO's “Direct Observation” technique and compared with the “Indirect Hand-Rub Consumption” method, in the main intensive care unit of a tertiary care hospital over a period of 15 days, encompassing 3000 HH opportunities. HHARs were also compared over the study duration and among doctors and nurses. Results: The overall HHAR estimated by direct observation as per the WHO criteria was 28.5% and by “indirect hand-rub consumption” method was 12.12%. Healthcare workers adhered maximally to the WHO HH moment 3 (64.6%) followed by 5 (31.6%), 4 (27%), and 2 (27%). Conclusion: The direct observation technique for monitoring HH, though conventionally deemed as the gold standard, mandates skilled personnel and devoted time which may deter daily surveillance in resource-limited settings. The time constraints in addition to the observation biases often confound or may even push HH surveillance to the backburners. The indirect “hand-rub consumption” technique, on the other hand, might prove to be an attractive alternative in resource-limited settings, which, in addition to providing an overall glimpse of existing HH culture, is also devoid of observation biases.
format Article
id doaj-art-71d2e282dfd741c495bcb62874a28e15
institution Kabale University
issn 0976-2884
0976-2892
language English
publishDate 2021-04-01
publisher Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
record_format Article
series Indian Journal of Medical Specialities
spelling doaj-art-71d2e282dfd741c495bcb62874a28e152025-08-25T08:33:51ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsIndian Journal of Medical Specialities0976-28840976-28922021-04-01122646810.4103/injms.injms_165_20Feasibility of Direct Observation and Consumption Method for Hand Hygiene Compliance in an Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Care HospitalBineeta KashyapRajat JhambRituparna SahaPratima PrasadN. P. SinghBackground: Emerging pandemics, rampant multidrug resistance, and diversity of healthcare-associated infections entail hand hygiene (HH) compliance, surveillance, and documentation as the cornerstone of infection control practices. Methods: HH adherence rates (HHARs) were determined by the WHO's “Direct Observation” technique and compared with the “Indirect Hand-Rub Consumption” method, in the main intensive care unit of a tertiary care hospital over a period of 15 days, encompassing 3000 HH opportunities. HHARs were also compared over the study duration and among doctors and nurses. Results: The overall HHAR estimated by direct observation as per the WHO criteria was 28.5% and by “indirect hand-rub consumption” method was 12.12%. Healthcare workers adhered maximally to the WHO HH moment 3 (64.6%) followed by 5 (31.6%), 4 (27%), and 2 (27%). Conclusion: The direct observation technique for monitoring HH, though conventionally deemed as the gold standard, mandates skilled personnel and devoted time which may deter daily surveillance in resource-limited settings. The time constraints in addition to the observation biases often confound or may even push HH surveillance to the backburners. The indirect “hand-rub consumption” technique, on the other hand, might prove to be an attractive alternative in resource-limited settings, which, in addition to providing an overall glimpse of existing HH culture, is also devoid of observation biases.https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/injms.injms_165_20antimicrrobial resistancehand hygieneinfectionsinfection control
spellingShingle Bineeta Kashyap
Rajat Jhamb
Rituparna Saha
Pratima Prasad
N. P. Singh
Feasibility of Direct Observation and Consumption Method for Hand Hygiene Compliance in an Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Care Hospital
Indian Journal of Medical Specialities
antimicrrobial resistance
hand hygiene
infections
infection control
title Feasibility of Direct Observation and Consumption Method for Hand Hygiene Compliance in an Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Care Hospital
title_full Feasibility of Direct Observation and Consumption Method for Hand Hygiene Compliance in an Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Care Hospital
title_fullStr Feasibility of Direct Observation and Consumption Method for Hand Hygiene Compliance in an Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Care Hospital
title_full_unstemmed Feasibility of Direct Observation and Consumption Method for Hand Hygiene Compliance in an Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Care Hospital
title_short Feasibility of Direct Observation and Consumption Method for Hand Hygiene Compliance in an Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Care Hospital
title_sort feasibility of direct observation and consumption method for hand hygiene compliance in an intensive care unit of a tertiary care hospital
topic antimicrrobial resistance
hand hygiene
infections
infection control
url https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/injms.injms_165_20
work_keys_str_mv AT bineetakashyap feasibilityofdirectobservationandconsumptionmethodforhandhygienecomplianceinanintensivecareunitofatertiarycarehospital
AT rajatjhamb feasibilityofdirectobservationandconsumptionmethodforhandhygienecomplianceinanintensivecareunitofatertiarycarehospital
AT rituparnasaha feasibilityofdirectobservationandconsumptionmethodforhandhygienecomplianceinanintensivecareunitofatertiarycarehospital
AT pratimaprasad feasibilityofdirectobservationandconsumptionmethodforhandhygienecomplianceinanintensivecareunitofatertiarycarehospital
AT npsingh feasibilityofdirectobservationandconsumptionmethodforhandhygienecomplianceinanintensivecareunitofatertiarycarehospital