Assessment of Hand Hygiene Compliance Using the WHO Hand Hygiene Observation Form

Introduction: Hand Hygiene (HH) prevents cross infection in hospitals; however adherence to guidelines is commonly poor. While the techniques involved in hand hygiene are simple, the complex interdependence of factors that determine hand hygiene behavior makes the study of hand hygiene complex. Objectives: The objectives of this study are: 1- To obtain a status queue of hand hygiene compliance rate as regards different professional categories of health care workers. 2- To implement ward infrastructure survey, to provide baseline data on hand hygiene resources. Methods: This is a cross-sectional, audit study conducted in 1 Intensive Care Unit, 1 Emergency Unit and 2 Inpatient Wards at Misr University for Science and Technology Hospital (The Memorial Souad Kafafi Medical Center). The study took place in a six-week period from April-May 2014. Health workers were observed performing their usual duties caring for clinical patients. Details regarding patient contact and hand hygiene compliance among the health workers were noted. Results: In our study we recorded 2782 opportunities for HH and evaluated hand hygiene compliance among health workers in 4 service locations of Misr University for Science and Technology Hospital. The hand hygiene compliance among doctors and nurses at the selected locations in the teaching hospital was generally low. The overall HH compliance rate is 57.30% among doctors and nurses in all selected locations. Conclusion: Implementing hand washing training programs for undergraduate doctors, house officers and nurses is very important. Those training programs should be done at intervals and assessed for the improvement of hand washing practices. Continuous monitoring and performance feedback is beneficial besides the increase in supplies necessary for hand washing and institutional support.