Perspective of health professionals on hand hygiene

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Daniel
• Data de Publicação: 2014
• Outros Autores: Andrade, Otília, Silva, Ernestina
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.19/3086
• topic: Hand hygiene; Health care workers; Health care-associated

Objective: To identify the practices reported by health professionals on hand hygiene; To determine how the practices of hand hygiene are related to socio-demographic and professional variables and variables in the context of practice. Material and methods: A descriptive-correlational and cross-sectional study conducted in a hospital in central Portugal, in May and June, 2012. 71 health professionals participated, with 23.9% physicians, 64.8% nurses and 11.3% operating assistants, in paediatrics, neonatology and paediatric emergencies. The majority was female (91.5%) and 32.4% are between the ages of 31 and 40 years. A questionnaire developed from DGS (General Health Directorate) recommendations was applied with questions on socio-demographic and professional characteristics as well as on the context of practice. Results: The professionals are motivated to perform hand hygiene (98.6%). In self-assessment, they practice hand hygiene appropriately, however the results revealed that 43.7% of subjects reported little knowledge concerning the interference of ornaments on the practice of hand hygiene, 38% of the sample reported the steps of the hand washing technique improperly, and approximately 43% of the sample does not practice hygiene at the correct times. The majority of the participants who use a proper technique are nurses, with signi cant differences with regards to doctors and operating assistants (P = .001). Conclusions: Most have knowledge about the practice of hand hygiene; however, some professional groups need to improve their practice of proper technique and the correct time to do so. Approximately a third did not attend speci c training, leading us to re ect on the need to invest in training.