An observational study of hand hygiene in 120 ambulance service / 中国实用护理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate into hand hygiene facilities and worker's practice of hand hygiene during 120 ambulance services in a capital city.Methods With the standard Observation Form publicized by the World Health Organization,field observation was carried out to monitor hand hygiene facilities and the practice of hand hygiene in workers during ambulance services provided by four service centers.Results A total of seven ambulances and 80 times of services were observed across a span of 21 days.The provision and position of hand hygiene facilities were found very limited in these ambulances.Of 656 times of presence of indictors for hand hygiene,the overall compliance rate was 3.04％ reflecting the practice of hand hygiene in ambulance workers.The compliance rate was found to be 0 (0/291),1.96％ (1/51),13.64％ (3/22),5.21％ (16/307) and 0(0/2) before touching patients,after body fluids exposure risk,before clean/aseptic procedures and after touching patients' surroundings respectively.Conclusions Poor practice of hand hygiene which was revealed in 120 ambulance services suggests the great need for education and training to improve patient safety and occupational health.