Poor Hand Hygiene in Hospital Settings Poor ha

Noting that nosocomial infection continues to impact upon about two million U.S. hospital patients each year despite significant advances made in the prevention and control of infectious disease, Earl, Jackson, and Rickman (2001) commented that it is important to achieve improved rates of compliance with hand antisepsis guidelines in order to reduce the incidence of this problem. The researchers said that it is common knowledge that the hands of health care workers can carry disease-causing organisms from one patient to another, making hand antisepsis before and after every patient contact crucial to the prevention and control of nosocomial infections. Nevertheless, numerous studies have demonstrated that rates of compliance with hand antisepsis procedures fall within the range of 10 to 20 percent and, further, that physicians was

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g before and after each patient is treated or examined than are nurses and members of the various therapeutic professions. Of all HCWs, nurses are believed to be the most proactive in conforming to institutional guidelines regarding this hygienic practice. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (2004) pointed out that infection control guidelines that have been long established require that all HCWs who touch patients or who interact with patients must wash their hands before and after the contact occurs. These guidelines are integral to the quality reviews and audits that are conducted in hospitals each and every year to determine certification and to ensure that compliance with various regulatory systems is forthcoming. However, the degree to which individual institutions monitor such behavior varies significantly. This suggests that despite the fact that all HCWs are aware of the importance and necessity of frequent hand washing, more must be done to ensure that compliance is forthcoming. Baran (2002) maintains that long fingernails, both natural and artificial, facilitate the colonization of bacteria on the hands by making hand washing less effective and the use of gloves less practical. The longer the fingernail, t
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Approximate Word count = 1421
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)