Hand Hygiene Compliance in Health Providers
Grand Canyon University: NRS 433
11/17/13

The purpose of this article “The impact of workload on hygiene compliance in nursing” was to shade some light and reveal some of the findings the researchers come across during the previous questions posed. They wanted to know the reasons why nurses are noncompliant when it comes to hand hygiene. The study lasted twelve-month during which time the staff were observed in a hospital setting in six different settings. The researchers were set to find out the leading causes of nursing staff noncompliance with hand washing while hospital acquired infections were on the rise. Researchers surveyed multiple units in a large hospital and concluded the following the result as recorded. All staff members were interviewed and monitored by the same interviewer for consistency and accuracy. The interviewer then placed each subject in a category as compliant or noncompliant and the subsequent reason for such a placement was noted. Next the observer proceed to observe the participants in their normal environment while they were performing their routine duties, subjects were chosen at random without announcement to be studied. The evaluation consisted of 181 participants, it was divided into seven groups. The categories varied from nurses who did not performed proper hand washing because of the time restraint all the way to those who spoke up when they see another coworker not following proper hygiene protocol. Once the participants were asked the question “why it was that they did not performed hand hygiene” the most popular answer was time constraint. Groups 1-6 were for noncompliance and 24 out the 181 participants fall into the “stress, hurry and lack of time prevented proper hand disinfection” category. The rest, 94 out of 181were observed using the hand disinfecting even in those circumstances.

Nursing staff were also observed during interaction with patient and while providing care. This was to help identify not only those who performed proper hand washing as well those that didn’t according the national guideline in an effort to help researcher answer some major questions and provide teaching grounds for the hospital. The study demonstrated that the nursing staff was noncompliant with regard to hand hygiene guidelines due to a number of factors.
Another purpose was to find the reason for staffs’ noncompliance of hand washing during patients care and any reasons nurses might be giving for taking shortcuts. However a positive teaching method was in sight for staffs who were not complying with guidelines. It included a motivational behavioral change, also finding noted that some of the staffing needed further reeducation on the importance of proper hand hygiene. Furthermore, the staff needed to be educated on the consequences of lack of proper hand hygiene. They also needed to be educated on the medical costs patients and the healthcare system as whole endures as a result. The study also showed that when nursing staff workload is hectic or overwhelming shortcuts that are taken put patients at risk for multiple hospital acquired illnesses which can otherwise be prevented. From this it can be infer that when nurses are overloaded, thus their chief reason for not complying with company and national guidelines the consequences to patients’ safety can be costly and even deadly. Although it might be hard to say a word at times the take way point here is that patients need to be protected and they deserved the best possible care regardless of the staff workload. Being that the nurse’s primary job is to heal their patients and to do no harm to them it would be unethical for them to not strive to do their best in this case to work with researcher and make the recommended changes as accepted by the hospital. ANA contents that the “nurse advocate for, strives to promote health, protect the health, safety and rights of the patient”. Study has shown that infection prevention is one of those a basis of an ethical situation. All staff member are encouraged to speak up in the event where a visitor, patient or health provider is not following standard precaution (Bosek & Shaner-McRae, 2010) especially where clearly stated. Sometimes challenging situations will rise but the recommendations for nurses in a situation where noncompliance with hand hygiene is witness the nurse needs to involve the nursing leaders in the decision making process and follow the institutional chain of command (Bosek & Shaner-McRae, 2010). Another recommendation is to follow policy and procedures when reporting the issue. The patient should be the main focus in the nurses’ decision to take action or lack thereof (Bosek & Shaner-McRae, 2010). The timelines for a respond of a challenging situation should always be taking into consideration by the nurse. Lastly, there should be no blaming game, rather it should be an environment where the staff remind each other because healthcare is a place of team effort and every member primary goal should be the patient’s safety (Bosek & Shaner-McRae, 2010). .

Reference

Knoll, M., Lautenschlaeger, C., & Borneff-Lipp, M. (2010). The impact of workload on hygiene compliance in nursing.. Retrieved (November 11, 2013) from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20852459
Bosek , M., & Shaner-McRae, H. (2010). Ethics in practice: Hand hygiene as standard practice. Retrieved (November15, 2013) from http://www.nursingcenter.com/lnc/JournalArticle?Article_ID=1095301&Journal_ID=260876&Issue_ID=1095287