An exploratory descriptive study with a quantitative approach whose objective was to use indicators to evaluate the frequency and infrastructure for hand hygiene, as well as the nursing team's knowledge about the subject. Systematized observation was carried out at hospital in the state of São Paulo, Brazil of the routine activities of 33 participating professionals (nurses and technicians) as ...

BACKGROUND Health care-associated infection remains a significant hazard for hospitalized patients. Hand hygiene is a fundamental action for ensuring patient safety. OBJECTIVE To promote adoption of World Health Organization Hand Hygiene Guidelines to enhance compliance among doctors and nurses and improve patient safety. METHODS The study design was a cross sectional intervention in a Fede...

BACKGROUND Interventions that prevent healthcare-associated infection should lead to fewer deaths and shorter hospital stays. Cleaning hands (with soap or alcohol) is an effective way to prevent the transmission of organisms, but rates of compliance with hand hygiene are sometimes disappointingly low. The National Hand Hygiene Initiative in Australia aimed to improve hand hygiene compliance amo...

It is well accepted that good hand hygiene practice is important in reducing health care–associated infection and therefore saving lives.1 Despite the intense research effort that has been undertaken over decades, a level of hand hygiene compliance that results in reduction in health care–associated infection has never been established. The World Health Organization program, My 5 Moments for Ha...

Author details Department of Clinical Research, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK. Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Program, University of Malawi College of Medicine, Blantyre, Malawi. Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Dignit...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE The risk of food-borne infections in hospitalized patients with compromised immune systems is much higher and can also lead to more serious health consequences than among other population groups. Therefore, food hygiene within the hospital setting, should be handled in an appropriate manner. In 2008, there were 732 hospitals in Poland. It was estimated that 7.2 millio...

Introduction / objectives Compliance of hand hygiene is frequently less than optimal and heavily depends on the dedication of the key opinion leaders. There are few tools to support their role model for hand hygiene. Dedicated days, information campaigns and similar activities lead to tremendous, but short-lived impact on the hand hygiene compliance. Psychological studies have shown, that a pub...

Antimicrobial-drug resistance in hospitals is driven by failures of hospital hygiene, selective pressures created by overuse of antibiotics, and mobile genetic elements that can encode bacterial resistance mechanisms. Attention to hand hygiene is constrained by the time it takes to wash hands and by the adverse effects of repeated handwashing on the skin. Alcohol-based hand rubs can overcome th...