Abstract

Introduction: Hand Hygiene is a general term that applies to hand washing, antiseptic hand wash, antiseptic hand rub, or surgical hand antisepsis. Good hand hygiene is an important aspect of protecting yourself and others from infection transmission. It is one of the most effective ways to prevent hospital care associated infection rates. Failure to perform appropriate hand hygiene is considered to be the leading cause of healthcare associated infections and spread of multi-resistant organisms such as Methicilin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) and has been recognized as a substantial contributor to outbreaks. Methods and materials: The present study was undertaken to explore the hand hygiene compliance among health care workers. The main objectives of the study were to explore the hand hygiene compliance rate among health care workers focuses in 5 moments and to improve the hand hygiene practices among health care workers. In this study the variables were age, gender, education status of the subjects. Review of literature was discussed about the observational studies related to hand hygiene compliance. Quantitative approach was adapted for this study. The design used was co relational retrospective design. The setting of the study was selected as Sun Medical Research Centre, Thrissur. Convenient sampling technique was utilized to collect data from 872 subjects, who meet the inclusion criteria. The tool used for the study was observational checklist. The study was conducted from 1/10/2020 to 31/12/2020 in SMC, Thrissur. The collected data were analyzed on the basis of thematic analysis. Results: The findings of the study revealed that the overall hand hygiene compliance of the hospital is gradually increased from 93%-99% in the 3 month duration. But doctors were found to be more compliant with hand hygiene practice compared to nurses and other HCWs. The study showed the lowest compliance rates were among ANM and other category which gradually decreased from 99.6% to 97% and 98%-96%. Conclusion: Hand hygiene is the first line of defense against the spread of many infections. The study explored the hand hygiene compliance among health care workers. Findings of this study are useful for the health care workers to improve the awareness about hand hygiene in each unit and to protect themselves as well as patients. The study results are helpful to the quality department with the support from higher administration of the organization to enhance the compliance to 100% by Improving the availability, display of written hand hygiene protocols, supervision, feedback and quality improvement activities.

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Funding