Impact of Hand Hygiene on Maintaining Patient Safety;

Question: Discuss about the Impact of Hand Hygiene on Maintaining Patient Safety. Answer: Maintaining Patient Safety through Hand Hygiene Hand hygiene is a key aspect in ensuring the patient's safety and curbing the transference of germs within the hospital environment. One of the major ways in which pathogens in the hospital environment are transferred from one patient to another is in the hands of the healthcare workers like the nurses (Abdella, Tefera Alene, 2014). Most reports indicate that improved hand hygiene among the healthcare workers is related to a decrease in infection rates (Graves, Page, Martin Barnett, 2016). During the interaction of the healthcare workers and the patients, there are situations whereby hand hygiene is not observed and therefore it threatens the safety of the patients health. It is the nurses responsibility to ensure that they are able to manage this situation appropriately when they arise. This paper will examine the relationship between hand hygiene and the patients safety and provide an example of a safety incidence that occurred in a patient together with the nurses role in managi ng the risk discussed. Infections acquired within the hospital results in an increase in morbidity and health care costs (Luangasanatip, Hongsuwan Cooper, 2015). This usually happens by through transference of germs between the patients through the hands of the healthcare workers. Hand hygiene has been proven to be an effective way of reducing these infections that occur from the interaction between the patients and the healthcare workers (Marimuthu, Pittet Harbarth, 2014). However, this is only effective if the workers are willing to comply with the handwashing requirements before and after attending to the patients. Healthcare workers are usually in contact with the patients and the equipment used in the treatment and the cleaning of hands ensures that they prevent the spread of illness. The spread of germs from one patient to another threatens the safety of the patients because these may lead to the patient developing additional illnesses from the extra pathogens they are exposed to (Murni Soenarto, 2014). This will also increase the seriousness of the patients condition as these germs that are transferred from another patient could worsen the existing condition of the patient. Maintaining hand hygiene is an important factor in reducing illnesses within the hospital environment. Hand hygiene entails washing hands or disinfecting them with the use of medicated soap or alcohol. Soap that does not contain disinfectant will not be effective in ensuring hand hygiene as it lacks the proper elements for keeping the hand's germ-free. Alcohol is usually the preferred antiseptic solution since it contains strong antimicrobial elements and its also a faster way of disinfection since it dries faster making it easier for the nurse to work efficiently from work patient to the other (Nair, Siraj Raghunath, 2014). Handwashing with antiseptic has to be done before and after caring for a patient. Those who may not be in direct contact with the patients should also practice good hand hygiene as they also play an important role in the patient's wellbeing (Wetzker, Pilarski Reichardt, 2016) An example of such staff is the staff within the hospitals who prepare food for the patients. As a nurse, there are situations that may arise whereby hand hygiene may pose a threat to the patients safety. In my practice as a nurse I witnessed a nurse who did not practice hand hygiene when she was dressing the wounds of a certain patient and on her way out she noticed another patient who was uncomfortable on their bed and went ahead to assist them to get into a comfortable sleeping position. In doing this, she touched this patient without doing any hand hygiene immediately after she had touched another patient. By doing this, she transferred the germs she got from the first patient to the second patient, therefore, putting the second patient at risk. The germs she picked up from the first patient may be transferred to the second patients skin and cause an infection. Through this, the patients safety is threatened as they are most likely to contract a new disease or experience an increase in the seriousness of the condition they are suffering from. In future, if such a situation was to arise whereby I am just from attending to a patient and I notice that another patient requires my help, I would first consider disinfecting my hands before touching them. In case there was another nurse around in a better position to do that, I would ask him or her to attend to the patient first as I ensure that I clean my hands first. It is important as a nurse to always prioritize hand hygiene while dealing with patients and this should be the first consideration before coming into contact with a patient (Smiddy, O'Connell Creedon, 2015). Before attending to my patients I would ensure that I disinfect my hands first and then afterward I would also ensure that I wash my hands with disinfectant to get rid of any germs that have been picked up from previous patients. A registered nurse has the responsibility to ensure that the patient is safe in the course of their treatment. In the case above, it is the nurses responsibility to manage. Nurses spend the most time with the patients and they are supposed to ensure the patient's safety by detecting any errors, identifying near misses, understanding the care processes, and identifying any weaknesses that exist within the system that may threaten the safety of the patient (Shinde Mohite, 2014). In the above situation, the nurse needed to have a better understanding of the care processes in relation to hand hygiene as this would enable the nurse to be vigilant. In understanding the care processes the nurse would also be able to identify the proper action to take after realizing the mistake she made by not putting into consideration hand hygiene. Therefore, it is the weaknesses in the hospital system that may hinder the ability of the nurse to ensure the safety of their patients (White Brain, 2015). The nurses have a responsibility of adhering to the system within the hospitals that have been put I place to ensure the safety of patients (Srigley Garber, 2015). However, these systems sometimes limit the nurses ability to provide the patients with the right healthcare that will ensure their safety. In this case, it is the nurses responsibility to ensure that they notify the hospital of the shortcomings of the systems put in place to optimize the quality of service (White, Jimmieson Martin, 2015). Using the incident that was mentioned above whereby the nurse touched another patient immediately after attending to a previous patient without the proper hand hygiene, a convenient system would have been effective in preventing this. A convenient system that would ensure this is a one whereby the nurses have individual sanitizers with a disinfectant that they can keep even in their pockets. Alternatively, disinfectant points can be strategically placed throughout the hospital to ensure that they are easily accessible at each point. If the nurse had the disinfectant within reach, it would have been easier to practice good health hygiene since its part of them. In conclusion, infections account for approximately 80,000 deaths per year in the United States alone. According to the WHO, between 5% percent and 10% of patients in developed countries acquire health care-associated infections and 15%-40% of patients in critical care are thought to be affected by the Health Care-associated Infections. However, these infections can be prevented successfully through hand hygiene. There exists evidence that with hand antisepsis, Health Care-associated Infections incidences are greatly reduced and it is, therefore, a very important issue as hand hygiene ensures patient safety. it is well established that indeed hand hygiene is a contributing factor to the patients health. The health workers have the responsibility of ensuring that their patients are kept safe and that they provide quality health service and an important way of ensuring this is through ensuring good hand hygiene. Situations arise whereby the patients are at risk because of poor hand hyg iene among the health workers and the nurses have to ensure they play their role in managing any risks faced by the patients. The incidence that was highlighted is just among the incidences that threaten the patient's safety due to poor hand hygiene. It is important for the healthcare workers to maintain good hand hygiene to ensure the safety of their patients. References Abdella, N. M., Tefera, Alene, K. A. (2014). Hand hygiene compliance and associated factors among health care providers in Gondar University Hospital, Gondar, North West Ethiopia. BMC Public Health, 14(1), 96. Graves, N., Page, K., Martin, E., Barnett, A. G. (2016). 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