nursing

Criteria

Peer-Reviewed Translational Article and Permalink/Working Link:

Translational Research Type:

Peer-Reviewed Traditional Article and Permalink/Working Link:

Traditional Qualitative Research Type:

Observations (Similarities/Differences)

Methodology

The providers' hands and skin are colonized by pathogens such as the multi-drug resistance gram-negative bacteria, the clostridium difficile, and the MRSA. Other epithelial cells are shed through the skin that consists of the viable microbes that lead to the contamination of the medical equipment. The healthcare settings like the surgical units, the critical care units, intensive care units, and the emergency departments are considered to be having a high risk of contamination (Adegboye et al., 2018). The contamination of the hands occurs when patients touch the skin, non-living objects and during the performance of the basic activities.

Personal hygiene starts with handwashing. Florence Nightingale, who was the pioneer of standard hygienic procedures, noticed the role played by the handwashing practice by patients and the doctors to improve healthcare outcomes. The practice of handwashing is considered the standard protocol in the modern-day hospital. Nevertheless, this important procedure is often overlooked due to the negligence of both healthcare providers and the clients receiving healthcare services (Gouldet al., 2018). Poor implementation of the handwashing practices exposes individuals to the risk of on-site infections and complications that leads to an increase in the length of hospital stay and medical costs for the preventable diseases.

The population, in this case, is the providers and the patients within the surgical services units. Education concerning the handwashing practices of these individuals will help reduce the infections caused by poor hand hygienic practices.

Goals

The reason for selecting this practice is that the enforcement and the facilitation of the role played by the handwashing practice helps reduce infection. The poor practice of hand hygiene when caring for the patients within the facility has led to the increase in the rise of infections for both healthcare providers, patients, and even families looking after these patients while in the hospital. The poor hand hygienic practice has led to the long-term stay in the facility, an increase in the rates of the nosocomial infections, and an increase in the healthcare costs as a result of the additional illnesses that the patients were not admitted for in the last place, and the rise in the risk of deaths (de Franca, 2018). The patients who are at risk of complications and infection as a result of the poor handwashing practices are the patients in the surgical units and the long-term care facilities.

Adherence to the handwashing practice is beneficial to healthcare providers such as nurses. For the patients, it helps in the reduction of the risk of exposure to the preventable nosocomial diseases, reduction in the morbidities, reduction in the length of hospital stay, drop in the medical costs due to the different treatments associated with the nosocomial infection, and the reduction in the risk of death cases. Nurses benefit from this intervention since they ensure that their safety is promoted through adherence to the handwashing guidelines based on the WHO guidelines, a reduction in the number of patients, which increases their workloads as a result of the preventable infections, and an increase in their well-being and health due to the reduction in the risk of being infected by the infections, and the increase in the level of their satisfaction due to the positive patient healthcare outcomes.

The intervention involves the implementation of the handwashing education session for the healthcare workers and patients.

Data Collection

Based on these issues, there is a need for improvement in implementing the handwashing practice within hospitals. This evidence-based practice has been proven to reduce microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, and protozoans, among others. Empirical data and academic research support the role of the handwashing practice. The World Health Organization (WHO) has offered the guidelines on the effective hand hygienic practice; however, the poor practice of handwashing leads to an increase in the rates of hospital-acquired infections (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). The poor handwashing practice is linked to the absence of adherence to the guidelines, the lack of handwashing detergents, and the increase in the nursing workload that makes it hard for nurses to wash their hands after handling one patient to another.

The rate of infections in the hospital due to poor hand hygienic processes exposes both patients and healthcare providers to the risks of infections. Various interventions have been proposed to help reduce the hospital-acquired infections caused by poor hand hygienic practices. The procedures such as handwashing practices have been confirmed to be effective evidence-based interventions to reduce the incidences of infections. Nevertheless, its implementation in the hospital, i.e., is becoming an issue. The WHO has provided guidelines for the handwashing practice; nevertheless, the providers fail to follow these guidelines, leading to the rise in infections.

In the surgical services units (P), what is the effectiveness of handwashing education sessions for healthcare providers and patients (I), compared to the handwashing non-compliance amongst healthcare providers like nurses together with patients (C) in the reduction of the frequency of hospital infection (O) in 6 months (T)?

Criteria

Peer-Reviewed Translational Article and Permalink/Working Link:

Translational Research Type:

Peer-Reviewed Traditional Article and Permalink/Working Link:

Traditional Quantitative Research Type:

Observations (Similarities/Differences)

Methodology

Goals

Data Collection