Background
Hand hygiene compliance appears to be a major issue at the Mercy Hospital. Healthcare workers are often distracted especially when engaged in urgent medical situations and forget to wash their hands before embarking on a specific medical or related procedure. The sinkers and dispensers in parts of the hospital are broken and unkempt, discouraging the nurses, medical attendants and other medical staff from washing their hands even further. Hand rubs are often missing at these dispensers and the soap that is required for washing hands also tends to go missing every now and then. There is this misconception as well at the Mercy Hospital that wearing gloves is something that negates the necessity for any hand hygiene compliance, thus aggravating the problem of poor hand hygiene at this hospital quite a bit.
Hand hygiene non-compliance at the Mercy Hospital or at any hospital for that matter tends to be a serious problem. More than two million patients out of an approximate number of thirty million patients in US hospitals acquire infection as a result of hand hygiene non compliance and as many as a hundred thousand of such patients die as a consequence of such infection. Hospital infection arising out of hand hygiene non-compliance is the third major cause of death in the USA after heart disease and cancer (Barnes etal, 2014). In spite of valiant and expensive efforts to control such a situation, the statistics remain stable. When healthcare workers avoid washing their hands and then come into contact with the patients it is likely at this point in time that they end up transmitting such infection to patients (Smiddy & Creedon, 2015).
The problem of hand hygiene compliance in Mercy Hospital was investigated by carefully observing whether health care workers made an effort to wash their hands before entering and upon leaving the operation theatre, before serving a patient food and before attending to the dressing of a patient’s wounds. Close attention was paid to whether or not healthcare workers made of soaps or detergent solutions in order to wash their hands thoroughly before attending to the needs of patients, especially prior to serving patients their meals (Pfoh & Engineer, 2013). An effort was also made to engage with patients and healthcare workers at the Mercy Hospital in the form of informal interviews in order to find out whether hand hygiene compliance was something that was being adhered to in the hospital or not.
Through the informal interviews that were carried out with patients as well a healthcare workers at the Mercy Hospital it was revealed that hand hygiene compliance is not something that is regarded too seriously. Around ten to fifteen patients were interviewed as a part of the investigation procedure, who stated that they seldom saw nurses and other medical staff washing their hands prior to serving them their food at night or in the afternoon. Very few medical staff actually bothered to wash hands before using an injection on these patients. Interviews with health care workers demonstrated that the importance of hand hygiene compliance is a concept that is alien to most. Fifteen nurses and medical attendants were interviewed, out of which at least ten revealed that the notion of hand hygiene compliance was not something that crossed their minds when addressing the needs of a patient.
Impact on Patient Safety and Hospital Infection Control
What stems from the interviews carried out with the hospital staff and patients is that hand hygiene compliance is not adhered to in the Mercy Hospital. The healthcare workers here do not take care to wash their hands or maintain any sort of hand hygiene when executing their duties at the hospital. It does not occur to the medical staff here that they need to rinse their hands completely free of dirt particles before serving a meal to a patient. It also does not occur to them that infections can be caused or transmitted when injecting patients with medication or when drawing blood using hands that are dirty and full of germs and dirt particles (Salama etal, 2013).
What appears to contribute to the problem of hand hygiene compliance at the Mercy Hospital is ignorance concerning hand hygiene and its importance. Most of the healthcare workers who were interviewed informally appear not to know how hand hygiene non-compliance can lead to the transmission of dangerous infections or infections of any sort for that matter. Many of these healthcare workers are not educated enough about the crucial need of hand hygiene compliance when working in medical setup like a hospital or a nursing home (Huis etal, 2013). They seem to think that it is alright to care for patients using dirty and soiled hands and to assist doctors in the operation theatre with or without washing hands every now and then.
One of the best ways to resolve the problem of hand hygiene compliance at the Mercy Hospital is to educate its staff about the importance and the necessity of such hand hygiene compliance. Statistics that demonstrate the dangers associated with the transmission of hospital infections to patients should be shared with the healthcare workers at the hospital. They need to be made to understand that hand hygiene non-compliance can lead to the death of a particular patient and that they are actually playing with lives by non-adhering to hand hygiene standards when working at the Mercy Hospital. The dispensers and wash basins at hospitals need to be well equipped with clean, high quality and nice smelling liquid soap that will successfully remove all germs and dirt particles when used for washing hands.
The installation of clean soaps and detergent solutions at the dispensers and washbasins of the Mercy Hospital and educating the Mercy Hospital healthcare workers about the need and importance of hand hygiene compliance can both go a very long way in ensuring that hand hygiene compliance is something that is indeed adhered to and maintained at this hospital. By washing their hands with clean soap, the healthcare workers can ensure that they do not end up transmitting germs and infectious dirt particles to their patients when attending to them (Lee etal, 2014). By being made to understand the dangers of hand hygiene non-compliance they will feel compelled to adhere to hand hygiene compliance much more than they used to earlier and will end up making every effort to wash their hands regularly and keep them as clean as possible when working within the hospital setup.
Hand washing should be made absolutely compulsory for all health care workers at the Mercy Hospital before they enter and also after, they leave a patient area (Squires etal, 2013). Surveillance mechanisms like CCTV cameras need to be installed in and around the patient areas to see whether or not hand hygiene compliance is something that is being adhered to by the hospital staff. Clean and good quality soaps should be kept at every dispenser and washbasin at the hospital in addition to a plentiful supply of water so that healthcare workers don’t find an excuse not to wash their hands.
Causes of Hand Hygiene Non-Compliance at Mercy Hospital
Equipping the hospital basins and soaps with enough clean soap and liquid cleaning solution will not be a very expensive thing to do, given the fact that liquid soaps are quite affordably priced. Creating the rule that all healthcare workers are to wash their hands before and after they leave, patient areas will simply mean introducing yet another protocol that is to be followed when working at the Mercy Hospital. Both solutions recommended for implementing hand hygiene compliance at the Mercy Hospital are therefore quite cost effective and easy to execute.
The policy of making hand washing compulsory for all healthcare workers at Mercy Hospital compulsory when attending to patients is something that can be introduced at the start of the financial year, in the month of April. The policy can be tested over the next four months until July and further amendments or changes to this policy can be introduced down the line to ensure its effectiveness in terms of implementation. The same applies to the provision of clean soaps in the wash basins and dispensers of the hospital (Gould & Drey, 2013). Fresh liquid soap can be placed around the dispensers and wash basins of the hospital in April and a continued supply of such soap needs to be ensured so that the protocol of maintaining hand hygiene compliance by the health workers at the Mercy Hospital is well followed, without glitches.
The Key stakeholders or Partners that need to be involved when introducing a policy like compulsory hand hygiene compliance at the Mercy Hospital include all the senior doctors, senior surgeons in particular, the top level management at the hospital as well as those who have stakes or who have invested in the growth and development of the hospital (Lebovic etal, 2013). All of them need to be made aware of the fact that hand hygiene compliance is something that is absolutely necessary and ought to be implemented as early as possible if the hospital is to prevent the spread of infection and disease caused by something as erroneous as hand hygiene non compliance.
Key stakeholders like the top-level management, investors and doctors at Mercy Hospital need to play a vital role in initiating hand hygiene compliance at the hospital. They need to understand more than ever the various benefits that can arise by making hand hygiene compliance in the hospital absolutely necessary, especially all the dangerous that can be avoided upon doing so, such as the spread of hospital infection. It is only when the key stakeholders recognize the importance and the necessity of hand hygiene compliance can this initiative actually be introduced at the policy level by the hospital administration.
Solutions for Addressing Hand Hygiene Non-Compliance
In order to adequately engage with the stakeholders of Mercy Hospital for introducing the policy of compulsory hand hygiene compliance, it will be imperative to first hold a series of meetings with them at their convenience. The meetings need to be kept short and brief and presentations must be made in the course of these meetings that highlight the importance and the prospective effectiveness of a policy like compulsory hand hygiene compliance (Chassin etal, 2015). Through well-illustrated presentations, the hospital management and investors and even the senior physicians shall be made to understand why hand hygiene compliance is so crucial and why making its implementation compulsory can prove to be beneficial for the hospital in the long run.
After introducing the policy of compulsory hand hygiene compliance, it will be necessary to wait for awhile and see how well this policy is being received by the hospital’s healthcare workers and whether they are successfully managing to adhere to such a policy or not. Since the policy shall be made mandatory for all healthcare workers to follow, it is sure to be successful, with every member of the hospital staff taking full cognizance of the value, necessity and benefits of adhering to such a policy (McGuckin & Govedkin, 2013).
To ensure the adequate and successful implementation of compulsory hand hygiene compliance, top notch liquid soap solution will be placed near all the washbasins and dispensers in the hospital very early on in the day, and a plentiful supply shall be kept available so that the soap solutions are refilled as and when needed. New health care workers should also be made to sign a contract at the time of joining the hospital, which contains a clause that states that compulsory hand hygiene compliance is compulsory and that failure to adhere to it will invite penal action (Boyce, 2013). Existing health care workers at the Mercy Hospital also need to be made to agree legally to the adherence to hand hygiene compliance while performing their duties at the hospital.
To ensure that the implementation of the compulsory hand hygiene compliance policy is a success, the health care workers at the hospital shall be kept under very strict surveillance for a period of time. If anyone is found to be breaking rules, they will be hauled up immediately and reminded of the penalties that can be imposed on them if they do continue to break such rules (Santos etal, 2013).
Implementation of Solutions
A scientist can ensure that a policy like compulsory hand hygiene compliance is needed by collecting the necessary data that is required to prove that hand hygiene non-compliance is a dangerous thing, carrying out analysis of such data and then presenting the conclusions of this analysis or study to the hospital management and stakeholders (Walker etal, 2014). This will be done by the scientist in the most theoretically accurate manner possible.
A detective can be deployed by the hospital staff to make sure that each and every health care worker that is appointed by the hospital administration is adhering to the policy of hand hygiene compliance. Such a person will take the responsibility of putting surveillance mechanisms in place to see if all healthcare workers are washing their hands when entering a patient area and leaving a patient area (Rees etal, 2013). The detective will then examine these surveillance mechanisms like CCTV cameras for instance and carefully scrutinize the videos to detect any violation of the compulsory hand hygiene compliance policy.
The role of manager at the Mercy Hospital when it comes to the implementation of a policy like compulsory hand hygiene compliance, will be to make sure that fresh and good quality soaps, either in solid or liquid form are made available at the wash basins and dispensers in the hospital at all times (Scheithauer & Lemmen, 2013). This will be done so that healthcare workers have no excuse not to adhere to the compulsory hand hygiene compliance policy that is being implemented by the hospital administration. Should the supply get exhausted, it will be the duty of the manager to make sure that the supply is immediately replenished. The hospital manager will also play an important role in engaging with the patients at the hospital and asking them if they are aware at all of the fact that a compulsory hand hygiene policy has been put in place. He or she will have to get feedback from the patients and know from them whether patients are able to witness hospital healthcare workers adhering to this policy or not when they enter and leave the patient areas. The manager will also have to keep a close eye on healthcare workers and those found not adhering to the compulsory hand hygiene compliance policy will have to answer to the manager as to why this is not being followed. For this purpose the hospital manager will have to rely closely on the detective to know who is and who is not adhering to the hand hygiene compliance policy that is being implemented now as a protocol in the hospital.
Engagement with Key Stakeholders
Barnes, S. L., Morgan, D. J., Harris, A. D., Carling, P. C., & Thom, K. A. (2014). Preventing the transmission of multidrug-resistant organisms: modeling the relative importance of hand hygiene and environmental cleaning interventions. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 35(9), 1156-1162.
Boyce, J. M. (2013). Update on hand hygiene. American journal of infection control, 41(5), S94-S96.
Chassin, M. R., Mayer, C., & Nether, K. (2015). Improving hand hygiene at eight hospitals in the United States by targeting specific causes of noncompliance. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, 41(1), 4-12.
Gould, D., & Drey, N. (2013). Types of interventions used to improve hand hygiene compliance and prevent healthcare associated infection. Journal of Infection Prevention, 14(3), 88-93.
Huis, A., Schoonhoven, L., Grol, R., Donders, R., Hulscher, M., & van Achterberg, T. (2013). Impact of a team and leaders-directed strategy to improve nurses’ adherence to hand hygiene guidelines: a cluster randomised trial. International journal of nursing studies, 50(4), 464-474.
Lebovic, G., Siddiqui, N., & Muller, M. P. (2013). Predictors of hand hygiene compliance in the era of alcohol-based hand rinse. Journal of Hospital Infection, 83(4), 276-283.
Lee, S. S., Park, S. J., Chung, M. J., Lee, J. H., Kang, H. J., Lee, J., & Kim, Y. K. (2014). Improved hand hygiene compliance is associated with the change of perception toward hand hygiene among medical personnel. Infection & chemotherapy, 46(3), 165-171.
McGuckin, M., & Govednik, J. (2013). Patient empowerment and hand hygiene, 1997–2012. Journal of Hospital Infection, 84(3), 191-199.
Pfoh, E., Dy, S., & Engineer, C. (2013). Interventions to improve hand hygiene compliance: brief update review. Making Health Care Safer 11: An Updated Critical Analysis of the Evidence for Patient Safety Practices.
Rees, S., Houlahan, B., Safdar, N., Sanford-Ring, S., Shore, T., & Schmitz, M. (2013). Success of a multimodal program to improve hand hygiene compliance. Journal of nursing care quality, 28(4), 312-318.
Salama, M. F., Jamal, W. Y., Al Mousa, H., Al-AbdulGhani, K. A., & Rotimi, V. O. (2013). The effect of hand hygiene compliance on hospital-acquired infections in an ICU setting in a Kuwaiti teaching hospital. Journal of infection and public health, 6(1), 27-34.
Santos, R. P., Konkewicz, L. R., Nagel, F. M., Lisboa, T., Xavier, R. C., Jacoby, T., … & Deutschendorf, C. (2013). Changes in hand hygiene compliance after a multimodal intervention and seasonality variation. American journal of infection control, 41(11), 1012-1016.
Scheithauer, S., & Lemmen, S. W. (2013). How can compliance with hand hygiene be improved in specialized areas of a university hospital?. Journal of Hospital Infection, 83, S17-S22.
Smiddy, M. P., O’Connell, R., & Creedon, S. A. (2015). Systematic qualitative literature review of health care workers’ compliance with hand hygiene guidelines. American journal of infection control, 43(3), 269-274.
Squires, J. E., Suh, K. N., Linklater, S., Bruce, N., Gartke, K., Graham, I. D., … & Tibbo, E. (2013). Improving physician hand hygiene compliance using behavioural theories: a study protocol. Implementation Science, 8(1), 16.
Walker, J. L., Sistrunk, W. W., Higginbotham, M. A., Burks, K., Halford, L., Goddard, L., … & Finley, P. J. (2014). Hospital hand hygiene compliance improves with increased monitoring and immediate feedback. American journal of infection control, 42(10), 1074-1078.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
