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Summary
Hand hygiene is regarded as the most effective way of preventing healthcare-associated infections. Thus hand hygiene audits are frequently undertaken by infection prevention and control teams. Although apparently straightforward, hand hygiene audit requires careful planning and conduct. Healthcare professionals need to understand the principles that underpin effective hand hygiene audit to improve their own practice and help patients, carers and the public to interpret the findings.
Keywords
Audit, hand hygiene, infection control
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Aims and intended learning outcomes
The aim of this article is to provide an overview of hand hygiene audit as it is undertaken in NHS trusts. Hand hygiene is considered to be the most effective way of preventing healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs). It is routinely audited by healthcare providers in the UK and, in some organisations, peer review of hand hygiene compliance is encouraged between members of staff. After reading this article and completing the time out activities you should be able to:
* Discuss the importance of hand hygiene compliance as a key infection prevention and control measure.
* Reflect on the validity and reliability of the hand hygiene guidelines and method of audit used in your clinical setting.
* Debate the ethical dilemmas potentially associated with hand hygiene audit and failure to comply with hand hygiene guidelines.
* List the different ways of supplying performance feedback from hand hygiene audit results to clinical staff.
* Help patients and carers to interpret the findings of hand hygiene audit.
Introduction
Most HCAIs are spread by direct contact, mainly via the hands of healthcare professionals when they touch vulnerable patients or objects and equipment in the near-patient environment (Pittet et al 1999. Hand hygiene is widely regarded as the most effective way of preventing HCAI on the premise that cleansing hands breaks the chain of infection (Beggs et al 2009). However, research studies and audits have demonstrated repeatedly that healthcare professionals perform hand hygiene too seldom and not always...