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Hand Wash
Improving Hand Hygiene Compliance in Healthcare Olga Norka Ambria College of Nursing Abstract Hand washing hygiene is a single and the most important method of prevention of pathogenic microorganisms transmission. Proper hand hygiene is a fundamental condition of patient safety in health care settings. Ideally every health care worker must have an obligation to himself and the patient to maintain adherence to hand hygiene protocols. In real world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) statistics, the compliance with hand hygiene remains poor. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that health care workers education has positive effect on hand hygiene improvement and reduces health-care-associated infections. The World Health Organization (WHO) provided practical guidelines on proper hand washing techniques and steps for educational and teaching-learning strategies on hand hygiene compliance for health care professionals.
The researchers from the University of Geneva Hospital in Switzerland explored the effectiveness of educational programs, conditions of compliance and incompliance, and measures to improve and promote the hand hygiene practices in health care settings.

Can you imagine what our life would be if hand washing for surgeons will be optional? Scary, right? Now days in developed countries hand hygiene is heavily promoting for people of all ages, but only few of us know the history and the beginning of hand washing. In 1846 Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis made clinical observations which lead to the practice of hand washing in medical settings. While working in the obstetrics clinic, Dr. Semmelweis paid attention on the fact that fatal childbed fever occurred more frequently in women who were assisted



References: Alemagno, S. A., Guten, S. M., Warthman, S., Young, E., & Mackay, D. S. (2010). Online learning to improve hand hygiene knowledge and compliance among health care workers. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 41(10), 463-471. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3928/00220124-20100610-06 Evolution of Personal Hygiene: A History of Hand-Washing, Clean Water, and Flush Toilets. (n.d.) Infectious Diseases. Retrieved July 12, 2013, from http://infectiousdiseases.about.com/od/prevention/a/history_hygiene.htm My five moments for hand hygiene. (2013, July 12). http://www.int./gpsc/. Retrieved July 12, 2013, from http://www.int./gpsc/ Mathai, E., Allegranzi, B., Seto, W. H., Chraïti, M., Sax, H., Larson, E., & Pittet, D. (2010). Educating healthcare workers to optimal hand hygiene practices: Addressing the need. Infection, 38(5), 349-56. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s15010-010-0047-7 Mathai, A., George, S., & Abraham, J. (2011). Efficacy of a multimodal intervention strategy in improving hand hygiene compliance in a tertiary level intensive care unit. Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine, 15(1), 6-15. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/0972-5229.78215 My five moments for health hygiene. (n.d.). http://who.int/gpsc/tools/Five_moments/en/. Retrieved July 12, 2013, from http://who.int/gpsc/tools/Five_moments/en/

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