Evaluating handwashing technique

Abstract

Though standards for handwashing have been defined, little effort has been made to assess the quality of handwashing in clinical settings. This paper describes tests of reliability and validity of tools to evaluate two aspects of handwashing--appropriateness and technique. Based on these tests, methods to evaluate handwashing are recommended.

Assessing undergraduate nursing and midwifery students' compliance with hand hygiene by self‐report

“…Larson and Lusk 20 reported that HH is necessary for the seventh activity and the frequency of HH was higher for the other activities. Akyol 21 found that nurses always wash hands after contact with not only contaminated but also non‐contaminated patients, equipment and environment.…”

“…This scale was used in numerous observational 16–19 and self‐report 20–22 studies to assess for HH. In the 1970s, Fulkerson developed a scale for relative potential as contaminants of the hands 20 . HCWs and nursing/midwifery students perform nearly all of the activities listed in the Fulkerson scale 16 .…”

“…This clean–dirty division is consistent with the Center for Disease Control recommendations. However, the seventh item of this scale is regarded as a clean low‐risk indication in some studies 20 . Using the Fulkerson scale, the students were asked to identify the items as clean or dirty and the conditions under which they performed HH.…”

Cell Phones andAcinetobacterTransmission

“…Swabs from the back and sides of the cell phones were cultured. Cultures of hand samples were done by using the broth-bag technique (1). …”

Recognising the psychosocial issues involved in hand hygiene

“…2 The establishment of a gold standard (Table 1) for hand hygiene would be a necessary move towards the facilitation of behavioural change. In recent times there have been a number of published methods relating to the hand hygiene process (Table 1) [21][22][23][24][25][26] and although these and others all follow a generalised theme, none constitute a gold standard as inconsistencies appear to exist between them. However, the development and success of such standards would require universal acceptance by all professions, disciplines, professional organisations and educational/health care providers.…”