EBP Task 2 Hand Hygiene Compliance
Western Governor's University
Evidence Based Practice and Applied Nursing Research
C361
, EBP TASK 2 HAND HYGIENE COMPLIANCE 2
EBP Task 2
A1. Healthcare Problem
Despite hand hygiene being recognized as the single most important step in the
prevention of hospital acquired infections (HAI), compliance among hospital staff remains low.
This not only impacts the patient's morbidity and mortality it also places the financial burden of
these infections on the health care institution.
A2. Significance of Problem
Poor hand hygiene compliance is a significant healthcare problem not only the United
States but globally as well. Hospital acquired infections have an incidence rate of up to 10% and
increase the affected patient’s mortality by 10-40%. Hand hygiene is an easy and cost-effective
measure to prevent HAIs (Rodriguez et al., 2015). Unfortunately, studies have shown that hand
hygiene compliance is less than 50% among healthcare workers (HCW) of varying professional
categories (Patel, Engelbrecht, McDonald, Morris, & Smythe, 2016)
A3. Current Practice
Most hospitals have a hand hygiene policy including the facility where I am employed.
This policy requires a minimum of performing hand hygiene upon entering and exiting a
patient’s room. Even with a policy in place, compliance with in my own facility is poor. I have
seen physicians, nurses and health care techs enter a patient room with out either foaming in or
washing their hands. No specific education is allocated to hand hygiene and I believe this
impacts our compliance rates. In developing countries limited funding, lack of resources such as
clean water, and lack of education or knowledge regarding the importance of hand hygiene
further add to low compliance rates (Salmon & McLaws, 2015).
A4. Impact on Background
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