Abstract
Introduction Compliance to hand hygiene (HH) is an important measure in preventing infections
to patients in health-care settings. Wellness and safety of patients and health-care
workers (HCWs) can be achieved by promoting best practices in infection control through
education and advocacy.
Aims and Objectives To assess the compliance to HH among all cadres of HCWs and its association with
hospital-acquired infection (HAI) in patients.
Materials and Methods A prospective, observational study was conducted for a period of 5 years (January
2014 to December 2018) in Neuro Trauma intensive care unit. A standard checklist based
on World Health Organization’s 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene was used as a tool to measure
the HH compliance.
Results HAI rate was found to be directly proportional to the compliance to HH. Reduction
in HAI rates was reported when there was an increase in HH compliance. HAI of 4.25%
was found to be lowest in the year 2015 with the compliance to HH of 63.65%. The HH
compliance was also found to be highest (64.63%) in the year 2016 followed by 64.12%
in the year 2017. During this period HAI rates were 4.35% and 4.8%, respectively.
When the HH compliance declined in the year 2018 to 53.95%, there was an increase
in the rate of HAI to 6.9%.
Conclusion It could be concluded that HH compliance was associated with the decrease in HAIs.
HH could be a simple and cost-effective method in the prevention of HAIs.
Keywords
hand hygiene - health care workers - hospital-acquired infection
