Objective:To analyze compliance with hand hygiene by healthcare professionals in an emergency department unit. Method: This is a longitudinal quantitative study developed in 2015 with healthcare professionals from a university hospital in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Each professional was monitored three times by direct non-participant observation at WHO's five recommended moments in hand hygiene, taking the concepts of opportunity, indication and action into account. Descriptive and analytical statistics were used. Results: Fifty-nine healthcare professionals participated in the study. The compliance rate was 54.2%. Nurses and physiotherapists showed a compliance rate of 66.6% and resident physicians, 41.3%. When compliance was compared among professional categories, nurses showed greater compliance than resident physicians (OR=2.83, CI=95%:1.09-7.34). Conclusion: Hand hygiene compliance was low. Multidisciplinary approaches could be important strategies for forming partnerships to develop learning and implementation of hand hygiene practices. Hand hygiene compliance of healthcare professionals in an emergency department* Adesão dos profissionais de saúde à higienização das mãos em pronto-socorro Adhesión de los profesionales sanitarios a la higienización de las manos en servicio de urgencias
DESCRIPTORS
INTRODUCTIONHealthcare-related infections (HCRI) are adverse events that occur in healthcare services worldwide, even when broadly avoidable (1) . A study of the prevalence of HCRI, coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 55 hospitals in 14 countries in Asia, Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Pacific revealed that on average 8.7% of patients experience infections during hospitalization (2) . In developed countries, HCRI rates ranged from 5% to 15% in hospitalized patients, and may have affected from 9% to 37% of patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) (2) . In 2004, the World Alliance for Patient Safety launched their First Global Challenge, with a central focus on HCRI prevention. In Brazil, the challenge was entitled "Clean Care is Safer Care." It was implemented in the biennium [2005][2006], aiming at promoting hand hygiene as a sensitive and effective method to prevent infections (2) . Even 10 years later, the proposal focused on patient safety, which points to hand hygiene as a simple and effective measure in the prevention of HCRI still has an impact on current clinical and care practices in different services (3) . Although scientific evidence points to a relationship between an increase in hand hygiene and reduction of HCRI rates, consistency and compliance rates remain low (4)(5) . There are efforts to increase this practice; however, the general rate of hand hygiene compliance has been around 40%, varying from 5% to 81% (6) . Scientific evidence has shown a compliance rate of 20% by ICU healthcare professionals (nurses, physicians and physiotherapists) (7)(8) , 29% in emergency rooms (9) , and 40% among medical students in open units (10) , confirmin...