(
https://www.tork.co.uk/about/hygiene/dispenser-placement-healthcare) (
https://www.who.int/campaigns/save-lives-clean-your-hands/sign-up-save-lives-clean-your-hands)
“Study after study has revealed the fact that there are still many healthcare workers out there who regularly fail to wash their hands.”
Improving hand hygiene compliance
Hand hygiene in healthcare is particularly crucial during the global pandemic, and a number of companies are coming up with ingenious ways to encourage hand washing, but such systems are only part of the story, says Essity’s Liam Mynes.
Hand hygiene is vitally important in the healthcare sector. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a thorough hand wash should take between 40 to 60 seconds for medical staff members, and hand hygiene should be practised both before and after every patient procedure.
Yet over the years, study after study has revealed the fact that there are still many healthcare workers out there who regularly fail to wash their hands. The global pandemic appears to have done little to improve matters.
An Australian study carried out between April and June 2020 highlighted the fact that many doctors and ambulance workers were still failing to meet national standards for hand hygiene. The study, carried out in New South Wales hospitals by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, revealed that only 79.5% of doctors and 74.5% of ambulance workers were washing or sanitising their hands when required to do so.
A second study carried out in New Delhi, India, in August 2020 revealed that 47% of doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences admitted to failings in following proper hand hygiene protocols.
According to the WHO’s Clean Hands 2020 campaign, around 70% of healthcare workers globally regularly fail to routinely practise hand hygiene. The organisation attributes
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this to misunderstandings concerning the relevance of hand hygiene in everyday clinical practice.
However, various studies over the years have highlighted a number of other reasons for low compliance rates, and some of these are particularly relevant today.
Nurses and doctors have been rushed off their feet throughout the COVID-19 crisis. This means there has been little spare time to carry out the regular 60 second hand washes that the WHO advocates. In urgent situations, staff members might be forced to choose between washing their hands for the required length of time or delivering life-saving care – and it’s obvious which decision they are likely to make.
Frequent hand washing and sanitising also has a tendency to aggravate the skin, and this can be an ongoing problem for healthcare workers. A Royal College of Nursing survey carried out in December 2019 revealed that 93% of nurses had suffered skin conditions on their hands or wrists during the previous year. More than half the people questioned claimed to have experienced redness, itching, dryness or cracking of the skin with 46% describing the condition of their hands as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.
Some healthcare workers complain that the products and systems they need to carry out hand hygiene are not always available to hand when they need them.
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