Exam (elaborations) Leadership_Experience_Task1_C493 2021

1. Hand Hygiene a. The current issue on my unit, and an issue that has been present since last year, is the lack of hand hygiene. This is extremely pertinent as hand hygiene is essential to providing adequate patient care. According to the CDC, about 1 in 25 patients acquires a health care- associated infection (HAI) due to poor hand hygiene during their hospital care, resulting in up to 722,000 infections a year. Of these, 75,000 patients die of their infections (Hand Hygiene in Healthcare Settings, 2018). Performing hand hygiene is considered to be the most important infection prevention measure; thus, to prevent contamination, good hand washing must be practiced. This is particularly important on my unit as I work on an Orthopedics floor with medical overflow. Because of the medical overflow, there is a higher chance of spreading an infection, especially to the orthopedic patient. On a typical day I have 5-6 patients and will constantly be in and out of each room touching the patient and various equipment. Without performing proper hand hygiene, my patients are exposed to many surrounding infections. 2. a. Currently, the hand hygiene compliance results on my unit from December 2017 to May 2018 are as follows: December: 58.5% January: 81.1% February: 100% March: 72.1% April: 71.7% May: 66% The 6th month rolling total is 70.4%, putting my unit as the worst floor for hand hygiene compliance out of 27 units. In addition to this, an audit that was randomly taken during a day shift for the month of May, showed 30% hand hygiene compliance. Clearly, there is poor compliance in regards to hand hygiene on my unit. 3. a. There are several issues that may be contributing to this problem. First, lack of education. There are no educational boards or signs in the unit regarding the importance of hand hygiene and the risks that come with poor compliance. Second, the stress of having 5-6 patients and at times total patient care patients, which means there is no CNA for that particular patient, and the RN is responsible for total care. This results in the RN feeling overwhelmed and overlooking hand hygiene dispensers. Third, carrying too many supplies and thus failing to perform hand hygiene. Lastly, there are no rewards for good hand hygiene compliance. 4. a. There are numerous ways to help improve hand hygiene compliance. First and for most, I would create educational projects. I would post educational posters in the break room, conference room, bathrooms, and one at either nurses’ station. Along with this, I would present statistical information regarding the risks of failing to perform hand hygiene at several meetings. I would also educate the patient that it is okay for them to ask if their health care team has done hand hygiene, this will keep the health care team accountable. In addition, I would place large,