Capstone Week 2

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PICOT Question Paper: Handwashing Training of staff members in curbing the spread of Covid 19

Bob Anderson

Grand Canyon University: NRS-493-0505

Instructor: Chris Bartholomew

10/10/2021

Handwashing Training of staff members in curbing the spread of Covid 19

Introduction

Practicing hand hygiene is a critical nursing practice for preventing infection spread, including covid-19. On average, healthcare providers do not clean their hands as often as they should, and this is why handwashing training is necessary for health professionals. Handwashing training will provide hand hygiene guidance and help understand covid-19 and how it spreads, prevention strategies, and how to improve nursing outcomes (CDC, 2021). This is a great strategy that health professionals should adopt when caring for patients in the hospital. This paper presents the PICOT question, evaluates the nursing intervention proposed, describes the clinical problem and outcomes, and summarizes the PICOT problem.

PICOT Question

For patients admitted with covid-19 on hospitals (P), does the use of handwashing practice (I) compared to no use of handwashing practices in healthcare (C) minimize the spread of covid-19 (O) in healthcare facilities within six months (T)?

Nursing Intervention

Infection prevention and control (IPC) is an evidence-based approach essential in preventing patients and health professionals from contracting avoidable infections in healthcare settings. Covid-19 spreads from one person to another through close contact with infected persons or contaminated surfaces and objects (Alzyood et al., 2020). Most healthcare equipment, objects, and surfaces are bound to be contaminated by the covid-19 virus because health professionals care for patients with this virus in these settings. Therefore, one of the strategies to minimize the spread of this infection is by improving handwashing practices in healthcare settings. Both patients and health professionals should practice hand hygiene to curb the fast-spreading virus in healthcare settings. No patients should get infections like covid-19 while receiving health care services (Lio et al., 2021). In many cases, the infection spreads through outbreaks and regular care practices within the healthcare settings. Health experts recommend the simple practice of handwashing using soap and clean running water as an effective way to prevent the spread of the covid-19 virus.

Clinical problem and patient outcomes

Covid-19 spreads between people through both direct and indirect contact with contaminated objects and surfaces. Washing hands with soap and running water in healthcare settings is a great nursing intervention that is of critical importance. Patients must wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water or with alcohol-based hand sanitizer after coughing, sneezing, or touching contaminated surfaces and objects (CDC, 2021). This is appropriate covid-19 behavior that is recommended to stop the spread of Covid-19. Washing hands after touching common, including doorknobs, handles, and visiting public places, will keep people safe from covid-19. This practice allows health professionals to influence behavioral change and adhere to the guidelines provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to prevent the spread of covid-19 (Dodorina et al., 2017).

PICOT Problem

The number of times that health professionals wash their hands depending on the number of patients they care for and the intensity of care. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers, soap, and water are useful in killing most germs, including those of covid-19, and this remains the preferred way for cleaning hands in healthcare settings (CDC, 2021). When caring for patients, research evidence encourages health professionals to clean their hands before touching a patient, when their hands are visibly dirty, before conducting an aseptic procedure, or before handling invasive medical devices. Further, it is also essential for health professionals to wash their hands after caring for patients with covid-19. Cleaning hands before moving from working on a soiled site to a clean body site on the patient and after exposure to body fluids suspected to transmit covid-19 is necessary. Health professionals should also be kept to wash their hands thoroughly after touching patients or their immediate environment (Lio et al., 2021). Contact with body fluids, contaminated surfaces, and immediately after glove removal calls for washing hands properly to minimize the spread of covid-19 within the healthcare settings.

The healthcare agency needs to create awareness on the importance of washing hands in controlling the spread of covid-19. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations, the organization should implement policies that will require health professionals to perform hand hygiene according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations. The health agency should further invest resources in training health professionals on the right hand-washing strategies to prevent the spread of covid-19. They should further provide the supplies necessary for promoting adherence to hand hygiene (CDC, 2021). These supplies should be accessible throughout the healthcare facilities for both patients and health professionals.

Conclusion

The spread of the covid-19 outbreak has emphasized the importance of washing hands regularly in healthcare settings to reduce the spread of the virus. Following the right steps for proper handwashing and emphatic orientation on how proper hand hygiene prevents coronavirus disease. Creating awareness on handwashing practices regularly using soap is a deliberate effort by health professionals and patients to save lives and save healthy people from contracting infections and those infected from spreading it to other people.

References

Alzyood, M., Jackson, D., Aveyard, H., & Brooke, J. (2020). COVID-19 reinforces the importance of handwashing. Journal of clinical nursing, 29(15-16), 2760–2761. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15313

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2021). Healthcare Providers. https://www.cdc.gov/handhygiene/providers/index.html

Doronina, O. , Jones, D. , Martello, M. , Biron, A. , & Lavoie‐Tremblay, M. (2017). A systematic review on the effectiveness of interventions to improve hand hygiene compliance of nurses in the hospital setting. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 49, 143 10.1111/jnu.12274

Lio, C.F., Cheong, H.H., Lei, C.I., et al.(2021). Effectiveness of personal protective health behavior against COVID-19. BMC Public Health 21, 827 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10680-5