WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care - Safe Care ...

<strong>WHO</strong> GUIDELINES ON HAND HYGIENE IN HEALTH CARE
Does experience of health care-associated infection
influence behaviour?
My family members who have been hospitalized have acquired
nosocomial infections – this is a very serious problem in my
country
(survey respondent, Mexico).
People who had direct experience of an HCAI were more
likely to question the HCW; 37% among those who had
direct experience vs 17% among those who did not. Among
respondents who identified themselves as not working in any
aspect of health care, this is more pronounced: 31% of patients
who had had a direct experience of an HCAI had previously
asked their HCW to wash/handrub, while only 4% of those who
did not have a direct experience had done so (Figure 4).
Figure 4.
Does having a direct experience of a health care-associated
infection influence the likelihood that a patient will ask their
health-care workers to clean their hands (wash/handrub)?
Percentage
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
No
10
Comparison of the study with previous work
0
Patients who have
direct experience
of a HAI
Patients who do
NOT have direct
experience of a HAI
Yes
Data comparing the results of this study with four other studies/
surveys asking for a patients’ preference for involvement are
shown in Table 6.
Table 6.
Comparison with other studies
Study
Yes, patients should be
involved
Would you ask?
HCW permission
England and Wales NPSA (2004) 1 71% 26% NA
Ontario (Canada) 2 32% 42% NA
USA consumer survey 3 NA NA 80%
USA web survey 4 NA 60% (20) NA
Current study NA 52% (29% had actually
asked in this survey)
86%
Patient narratives
On the high dependency ward where we had to request that the
nursing staff washed their hands, wore aprons and gloves, their
attitude was that we were ove reacting
(narrative, United Kingdom).
Respondents who indicated a personal experience of HCAI
were asked for their willingness to be contacted. Of these, 123
respondents (27%) stated that they were willing to be contacted;
110 respondents were successfully contacted and a total of 11
completed standard narrative forms were received. At the time
the HCAI developed, the patients had been admitted because
of a range of underlying medical conditions. Four respondents
specifically identified methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
aureus (MRSA) as the HCAI. The remaining descriptions
included urinary tract infection, wound infection, septicemia,
and C. difficile, and one patient acquired HIV infection.
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