Handwashing: Outpatient Healthcare Fail To Follow Standards?

Handwashing policies had been implemented by most institutions to prevent infections, but staff at outpatient care facilities fail to follow standards for hand hygiene 37 percent of the time, according to a study published in the American Journal of Infection Control. Researchers from the University of New Mexico conducted a study of 15 outpatient facilities where they assessed infection prevention policies during the summer of 2014.

The medical student surveys with outpatient facility staff revealed that 93 percent of hospital policies were implemented across the 15 facilities. However, when the students observed processes, they noted only 63 percent showed compliance with hand hygiene practices. In the 37 percent of hand hygiene processes, there was no handwashing that was performed.

The study noted that despite high levels of hygiene education and supply availability, observations of hand hygiene technique revealed lack of the same high behavior compliance. The project highlighted the importance of analyzing both the report of infection prevention policies, as well as behavior compliance through audits. This was critical because there had been outbreaks and transmission to patients in outpatient settings due to infection prevention breaches, according to a feature from Eureka Alert.

Handwashing practices were assessed using an infection prevention checklist released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The list included 14 topic areas such as administrative policies, occupational health, education and training, environment cleaning, injection safety, and hand hygiene. The students also evaluated hand hygiene practices through observations. Each student observed 10 injections and 20 hand hygiene processes at their assigned area.

The handwashing observations revealed only 66 percent of the processes complied with all of the infection prevention steps. During the 330 observations, students reported that handwashing supplies were available 100 percent of the time. The findings highlighted the need for quality improvement initiatives with regards to infection prevention practices in outpatient settings, Science Daily reported.