In a Tertiary Care Centre, Health Care Workers Practices about Hand Hygiene.

Abstract

About 40% of nosocomial infections are caused by healthcare workers (HCWs) who do not practise proper hand hygiene. These infections cause prolonged illnesses, hospital stays, long-term disability, unexpectedly high costs for patients and their families, and a significant increase in the financial burden on the healthcare system. Health care associated infections are drawing increasing attention from patients, insurers, governments and regulatory bodies. This is not only because of the magnitude of the problem in terms of the associated morbidity, mortality and cost of treatment, but also due to the growing recognition that most of these are preventable. 83% of HCWs had awareness of proper hand washing techniques, and 93% of them agreed that dirty hands are a major source of cross-infection. 79% of respondents reported washing their hands with soap and water and 82% reported using alcohol-based rubs according to WHO standards. Most people preferred washing their hands with soap and water to rubbing their hands with alcohol-based treatments. There is now undisputed evidence that strict adherence to hand hygiene reduces the risk of cross-transmission of infection. With “Clean Care is Safer Care” as a prime agenda of the global initiative of WHO on patient safety programmes, it is time for developing countries to formulate the much needed policies for implementation of basic infection prevention practices in health care set-ups.