According to Hor et al. (2016) Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are one of the frequently occurring adverse events that affect hundreds of millions hospital in-patients annually. The HAIs increase the overall cost of care along with an increase in the length of stay in the hospital. Brewster, Tarrant and Dixon-Woods (2016) highlighted under the under the growing prevalence of the antimicrobial resistance, HAIs is serious concern and might impose fatal threats. Under acute care settings in hospitals hand-hygiene is highlighted as the principal concern in preventing HAIs. Pan et al. (2014) argued that the hands of the healthcare workers are regarded as the primary vectors of the microbes’ transmission between patients and the surrounding healthcare environment. Observing the “Five Moments” of hand hygiene as proposed by WHO helps to follow the standardised protocol of hand hygiene under healthcare settings (Al Kadi & Salati, 2012). However, National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards of Government of South Africa highlighted that healthcare professionals play an important role in preventing and managing HAIs. The standards also highlight that healthcare professionals must communicate the patients and the care givers about the important of the hand hygiene HH, disinfection and sterilization in preventing HAIs. the following assignment mainly aims to analyse how HH is effective in preventing HAIs and what are the approaches is important in uplifting the overall sterilization practice among the healthcare professionals. The paper will mainly initiative with the critical analysis of three papers (qualitative, quantitative and systematic review) published in relation to HH and HAIs. Following the critique, the assignment will provide a summative overview of the main findings of the selected research.
In the domain of HAIs and importance of hand hygiene, Huis et al. (2012) conducted a systematic review in order to analyse the strategies which have been found to be effective in maintaining the compliance of the hand hygiene among the nursing professionals towards the prevention of the HAIs. Thus, the aim of this systematic review is focus and justified under the context of novel research framework. Huis et al. (2012) utilized systematic searchers of experimental and the quasi-experimental research on hand hygiene (HH) which were published on Medline, Embase, CINHAL and Crochrane databases from January 2000 to November 2009. Thus they authors review articles, which are during the tenure of 9-year gap. This approach of the authors helped them to include important and relevant studies, which fall under the scope of the research. The review of the 41 articles highlighted that addressing only the important determinants of the observance of the HH like knowledge, action control, awareness and facilitation is not comprehensive to change the HH compliance behaviour among the nursing professionals. Addressing the combination of different determinants is found to provide better results. Thus, the review highlighted that application of the alternative improvement strategies like social influence, self-efficacy, attitude and intention will help to increase the compliance of the nursing professionals in observance of hand hygiene. However, one of the main limitations of the study is, authors failed to review adequate resources during the tenure of 9 years and this might lead to the generation of biased response. However, the result of the review is combined and was reasonable.
Monistrol et al. (2012) conducted a quantitative study in order to assess the impact of HH educational program on HAIs in the medical wards. The authors mainly aimed to evaluate the impact of multimodal intervention in the hospital wards on the compliance of HH, alcohol-based hand rub (AHR) and its association with the rate of occurrence of HAIs and hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (HA-MRSA). Monistrol et al. (2012) mainly employed before-after intervention study approach and post 1-year assessment was conducted in three medicines wards. They mainly used WHO HH observation method for monitoring HH compliance and the infection. The analysis of the results highlighted that proper observance of the multimodal interventions like compliance of the HH through AHR helped to decrease the spread to HA-MRSA. However, Monistrol et al. (2012) highlighted that it is the duty of the healthcare professionals to maintain a proper follow-up during pre and post interventions periods. The main limitation of the study is follow-up evaluation after one year. According to Lewis (2015) the follow-up studies cause decrease in the overall sample size during the course of the year and this decrease in the sample size might lead to biased outcome. One of the strength of the study is, the compliance of HH was measured via the use of direct observation during the daily work-routine. In order to reduce the inter-observer error, the observers were standardized against each other through 10% of monitoring sessions. The recording to the observation was done based on the WHO 5 step framework of the HH. This help in uniform tabulation of data. The study followed all the ethical regulations.
Hor et al. (2016) conducted a qualitative study; the aim of the study was to elucidate a better understanding about the infection prevention and control (IPC) under routine clinical practice. The authors mainly highlighted over the prevention of the cross-contamination under the application of effective HH and personal protective equipment (PPE). The qualitative study mainly reported on an interventionist video reflexive ethnography study that explored how the healthcare professionals utilized IPC in New South Wales, Australia. They conducted 46 semi-structured interviews, 24 weeks long field-work (observation and videoing) and 22 reflexive sessions. 177-participants from different health care profession like nursing, clerical, cleaning staffs and the medical professionals were included in the case study. The large sample size is the main strength of the study. According to Malterud, Siersma and Guassora (2016), large sample size helps in the reduction of the biased response. However, the selection of the focus groups was not uniform as it included healthcare professionals from diverse domains and this might hamper the reliability and validity of the elucidated results. The post-intervention analysis with grounded theory approach highlighted that the healthcare professionals go beyond the hand hygiene and PPE. The extra initiatives include cleaning of the vulnerable spaces in order to restrict the movement of the microorganism and doing proper buffers ad trajectory planning. Though there was clear statement of findings, the results are not applicable under the global context. The limitations highlighted by the author stated that their findings are only applicable to the sites where they conducted their research.
The analysis of the literary articles published online in the domain of HH and HAIs upheld the principle of National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards by the Government of South Australia. According to safety standards, in preventing and controlling the HAIs, it is the duty of the healthcare professionals, especially the nursing professionals to take active efforts. For compliance of the infection prevention by HH, proper knowledge, action control, awareness and facilitation is not comprehensive. Combination of different determinants like self-efficacy, attitude and intention are helpful in proper compliance of HH. Analysis of the literary article further highlighted that HH with alcohol helps to provide better infection control for HA-MRSA. However, proper follow-up during post and pre-intervention are also important. Apart from hand hygiene, hygienic of the surrounding environment is also important in the prevention of HAIs. Thus all these aspects must be included under trajectory planning
References
Al Kadi, A., & Salati, S. A. (2012). Hand hygiene practices among medical students. Interdisciplinary perspectives on infectious diseases, 2012.
Brewster, L., Tarrant, C., & Dixon-Woods, M. (2016). Qualitative study of views and experiences of performance management for healthcare-associated infections. Journal of Hospital Infection, 94(1), 41-47.
Government of South Africa. (2018). National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards. Access date: 3rd October. Retrieved from: https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/public+content/sa+health+internet/clinical+resources/safety+and+quality/standards+and+accreditation+on+safety+and+quality/national+safety+and+quality+health+service+standards#Standard%203%20-%20Preventing%20and%20Controlling%20Healthcare%20Associated%20Infections%20(PDF%202000KB)
Hor, S. Y., Hooker, C., Iedema, R., Wyer, M., Gilbert, G. L., Jorm, C., & O’sullivan, M. V. N. (2016). Beyond hand hygiene: a qualitative study of the everyday work of preventing cross-contamination on hospital wards. BMJ Qual Saf, bmjqs-2016.
Huis, A., van Achterberg, T., de Bruin, M., Grol, R., Schoonhoven, L., & Hulscher, M. (2012). A systematic review of hand hygiene improvement strategies: a behavioural approach. Implementation Science, 7(1), 92.
Lewis, S. (2015). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Health promotion practice, 16(4), 473-475.
Malterud, K., Siersma, V. D., & Guassora, A. D. (2016). Sample size in qualitative interview studies: guided by information power. Qualitative health research, 26(13), 1753-1760.
Monistrol, O., Calbo, E., Riera, M., Nicolás, C., Font, R., Freixas, N., & Garau, J. (2012). Impact of a hand hygiene educational programme on hospital?acquired infections in medical wards. Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 18(12), 1212-1218.
Pan, S. C., Lai, T. S., Tien, K. L., Hung, I. C., Chie, W. C., Chen, Y. C., & Chang, S. C. (2014). Medical students’ perceptions of their role as covert observers of hand hygiene. American journal of infection control, 42(3), 231-23
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download