Summary
Background
Hand hygiene is a simple and low-cost practice to prevent the spread of many micro-organisms
that cause healthcare-associated infections.
Aim
This is a descriptive study designed to investigate the compliance of patient companions
and visitors with hand hygiene.
Methods
The study included 209 companions and visitors of patients hospitalized in a university
hospital in the west of Turkey. A demographics and hand hygiene questionnaire and
a hand hygiene practice observation form were used to acquire data.
Findings
Of the patient companions and visitors, 96.2% stated that they did not receive training
on the importance of handwashing during their stay in the hospital, and 74.6% stated
that handwashing was very important in the prevention of diseases. The patient families
reported that they most often washed their hands after touching bodily fluids (91.7%),
and that they rarely washed their hands before touching a patient (34.0%). The rates
were decreased in the observations; the lowest rate for handwashing was before touching
a patient (22.4%) and the highest rate for handwashing was after the risk for contamination
with body fluids of the patient (68.6%).
Conclusion
The patient companions and visitors received no training on the importance of hand
hygiene during the hospital stay, and the observed rate of compliance with hand hygiene
was lower than stated. Recommendations include delivering planned handwashing training
to patient companions and visitors using different teaching methods, and to conduct
longer observational studies.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 21, 2023
Accepted:
April 15,
2023
Received:
February 4,
2023
Identification
Copyright
© 2023 The Healthcare Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
