Hand hygiene status and effect of hand-drying measures on hand-washing of health care workers in an intensive care unit / 中国感染控制杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To realize hand hygiene status and effect of hand-drying measures on hand-washing of health care workers(HCWs)in an intensive care unit(ICU).Methods From February to April 2013,210 HCWs in an ICU were selected and randomly divided into three groups,group A dried hands with paper towel,group B with hand drier,and group C with personal towel,specimens from hands before hand-washing,after hand-washing,and after hand-drying were taken and performed detection.Results Hand microorganism count in group A,B and C before washing hands after contacting patients was (29.10±15.08)CFU/cm2 ,(31.42±14.76)CFU/cm2 and (30.36±15.52) CFU/cm2 respectively,the difference was not statistically different(F=0.048,P >0.05);After six-step hand-washing, hand microorganism count before hand drying in group A,B and C was (3.26 ±0.61 )CFU/cm2 ,(2.98 ±0.59) CFU/cm2 and (3.87±0.67)CFU/cm2 respectively,compared with hand microorganism count before hand-washing, the difference was statistically different(all P <0.01 ).After adopting different hand-drying methods,microorgan-ism count in three groups was statistically different(F =1 .892,P <0.05),group A ([1 .29±0.58]CFU/cm2 )was significantly lower than group B and C,group B ([9.51 ±0.73 ]CFU/cm2 )was significantly lower than group C ([22.76±4.11]CFU/cm2 );the qualified rate in group A (90.00%)was significantly higher than group B and C, group B (68.57%)was significantly higher than group C (47.14%).The top 5 pathogens isolated from HCWs’ hands were Pseudomonas aeruginosa ,Acinetobacter baumannii ,Klebsiella pneumoniae ,Escherichia coli ,and Coag-ulase negative Staphylococcus ,these strains were highly consistent with the top 5 multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs)isolated from ICU patients in this hospital in 2013.Conclusion HCWs’hands are seriously contamina-ted after all kinds of medical performance;if hands are improperly dried,secondary contamination may occur;patho-gens isolated from HCWs’hands are highly consistent with MOROs from patients,timely and correct hand-washing and hand-drying is the key link to ensure the quality of hand hygiene,and is of great significance to reduce the occur-rence of MDROs infection in ICU patients.