Korean J healthc assoc Infect Control Prev.  2023 Dec;28(2):233-239. 10.14192/kjicp.2023.28.2.233.

Hand Hygiene Compliance of Caregivers for Hospitalized Patients in Liver Transplant Wards at a Tertiary-care Hospital in Korea

• Namgung S
• Kang J
• Yun M
• Kim Y
• Kwon S

• KMID: 2549951
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.14192/kjicp.2023.28.2.233

Abstract

Background
Given the lack of evidence on hand hygiene (HH) compliance among hospital visitors, this study evaluated HH compliance among caregivers of hospitalized patients in three liver transplantation wards with a high healthcare-associated infection risk.
Methods
At a 2,743-bed Korean tertiary-care hospital, four infection control nurses took turns covertly observing HH compliance across three wards for liver transplantation during weekdays at lunch-time, from January 3 to January 28, 2022. The observation tool was adapted from the World Health Organization (WHO) checklist and a form previously modified by prior research on visitors. The collected data were analyzed using the χ 2 test or Fisher’s exact test.
Results
The average HH compliance rate was 13.0% for 663 hand hygiene opportunities among 454 caregivers. The adult group showed a higher HH rate (16.0%) than the elderly group (8.4%; P=0.004). The private caregiver group had a lower HH rate (9.9%) than the family member group (13.3%; P=0.404). The most frequently observed moment (56.1%) was “after touching patient surroundings” largely due to curtain contact (53.7%). Although “after touching a patient” was the least frequent (2.9%), it showed the highest compliance rate (36.8%). Notably, the HH rates for “before touching a patient” (14.3%) and “before clean/aseptic procedure” (6.2%) were lower.
Conclusion
Our results highlight the importance of infection control education, especially HH education for caregivers of hospitalized patients.

Keyword

Caregiver; Compliance; Hand hygiene; Liver transplant; Observation

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Diagram of data collection. From January 3 to January 28, 2022, over a total of 20 weekdays, four researchers observed hand hygiene practices in the three wards. Two of the four observers took turns observing for each 10 days out of the 20 days period. From day 1 to day 10, researchers a, b, and c participated, and from day 11 to day 20, researchers a, b, and d conducted the observations. To maximize the effects of covert observation, three observers alternated and rotated between wards daily.

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