Implementation of hand hygiene
One of the most important issues as far as the population health is concerned, is directly linked to good if not the best hygienic conditions. As such, many individual have been at the forefront in upholding the preaching about the healthy gains that one stands to gain from practicing good hygienic behaviors. One of the major subdivisions in regard to upholding hygiene is observing hand cleanness (Stewardson et al., 2013). As it is usually said, many human infections are usually spread through contacts with the hands, and as such, major campaigns directed at improving hand hygiene have to be initiated so that the public becomes aware of the importance of taking care of their hands’ cleanliness. Apart from the general public, one of the key areas that high standards of sanitation have to be observed is in the hospital. It is in such places that the susceptibility to contracting infections are very high, and therefore, there is the need for the persons found in these places be educated about the importance of hand sanitation (Stewardson et al., 2013).
Therefore, to implement this hand hygiene program in the hospital that I work in, there will be the need to get the necessary approval from the hospital leadership that I work in. This approval would be instrumental in getting the blessings and the required resources to roll out the project in the hospital. As such, I will have to write an official letter accompanied by a proposal that entails the contents of the proposals, the implementation plan, the stakeholders, the budgetary implications and the main benefits that are likely to come out of the program to the hospital’s management. Additionally, there will also be the need to have my workmates work with me in this project so that we have a team that is committed to this whole process. Therefore, during the staff meeting, I will raise the issue as an AOB in the agenda paper in order to bring them up to speed concerning the new developments in the workplace. Such a move will serve to give the other members of staff what actually will be their role in this process in order to eradicate any bottlenecks that might come and address any resistance or fear cases from my colleagues.
Problem description
Currently, there have been many health-based problems in health care settings as a result of persons in these settings not being observant on hand hygiene. Such problems if well addressed can be beneficial both to the hospitals and to the patients. The problems that have been on the rise as a result of proper hand hygiene being overlooked include patients overstaying in hospitals due to hospital acquired infections which mean that their qualities of life are compromised leading to undesirable patient outcomes and low levels of patient happiness (CDC, 2013). The health care costs have also been on an increasing trend both to the hospital and to the patients therein translating to uneconomical operations in the hospital and huge financial burdens to the patients. Poor hand hygiene also translates to compromised quality of care as there are very high chances of infections spreading either from the health care providers to the patients under their care or from one patient to another. As such, this realization has made it important to have in place the proper structures which will helpful in addressing these problems likely to be experienced in health care settings.
Details of the proposed solution
As observed, there exists a problem and the only way to take care of this problem will only be through developing a program that strives to eradicate all the perils that have been associated with poor hand hygiene. As such, solutions that will oversee this program will be focused on having reforms on the sanitation policies of the hospital. This will entail educating the staff at the hospital about the proposed program to get them appreciates the efforts that will be put in place concerning the hand hygiene problem. There will also be the need to ensure that the necessary materials for rolling out the program like dispensers containing rubber gloves for the hospital staff are availed. These gloves will be crucial when handling patients and any medication to be administered to them to prevent cross infections. Additionally, enough sinks, hand washing gels, and detergents need to be procured and availed. Hand-washing is a very important practice that will need to be addressed in the hospital at all times. Hand-washing should be done before making contact with a patient, before performing any medical procedure, after medical procedures or being exposed to risky body fluids, after touching a patient and finally after touching their surroundings. There will also be the need to have disinfectants for sterilizing surfaces that are most likely to be touched by persons found inside the hospital. Since a hospital being a highly sensitive setting hygiene-wise, it is highly susceptible to infections being passed on through such surfaces. Enough water also needs to be available for the hand washing and in addition, towels are also supposed to be procured for drying off hands after washing them.
Rationale for selecting the program
Notably, the hands of healthcare workers are to a major extent the reason why infections are likely to easily spread in the hospital since they are always in contact with patients. As such, with poor hand hygiene practices, health care associated infections are associated with the spread of pathogens which are resistant to many health care settings. As such, this program is aimed at decreasing these healthcare-induced infections, increase health care workers compliance to hand cleanliness which will be useful for them in maintaining optimal care for patients. Additionally, cases of patients overstaying in the hospital because of re-infections will be reduced leading to desirable patient outcomes; a factor that can be associated with reduced costs both to the patient and the hospital. Improved hand hygiene will also mean that the way patients are handled is high quality which eventually translates to increased quality of care.
Literature reviews on hand hygiene
According to the CDC on the frequently asked questions about hygiene, there is the need to frequently observe hand hygiene through different methods like observing routine hand wash, hand rubbing using antiseptics, using hands using antiseptics or the surgical antisepsis on hands (CDC, 2013). The CDC observes that non-compliance with the required hand hygiene practices is directly associated with healthcare infections in patient rooms and in some cases has been a contributor to outbreaks of diseases (CDC, 2013). The recommendations from the CDC are that hand hygiene is supposed to observe before and after administering treatment to a patient, after touching contaminated substances like saliva and blood, before moving out of a dental surgery room and when hands are visibly soiled (CDC, 2013). The World Health Organization recognizes that health care-associated infections (HCAI) have been in the recent past and as such there is the need to put in place the required strategies to address it (WHO, 2015). There is the realization that such HCAI has got both political and economical implications and such there is the need to address them in the soonest possible way (WHO, 2015). As such, the WHO proposes strategies vital for addressing this problem by changing the system by installing the necessary infrastructure in place to oversee the prevention, training healthcare workers on the importance of observing proper hand hygiene, monitoring of hand hygiene practices and creating institutional changes that encourage the implementation of the program (WHO, 2015).
Implementation logistics
The first phase in the implementation stage will be getting all stakeholders to gel together and act as a team. As such, all the healthcare workers in the hospital will be educated on the healthcare associated infections and the role they are supposed to pay in addressing it. Such training will make it easy to effect the changes into the hospital setting (Stewardson et al., 2013). There will also be the need to change the culture of all the stakeholders in the hospital to get them work in line with the proposed changes. As such, distributing flyers and pamphlets containing information on hand hygiene will be crucial in making the new culture stick in. Seminars will also be conducted to make the stakeholders have a clear understanding of the project. A committee that will be made up of nurses of physicians will be constituted to oversee the budgeting, procurement of the required materials for the project and the installation of sinks and dispensers. All these processes will be under the mentorship of nurse managers and administrators.
Resources requirements
The resources required to kick start the process will include educational materials on hand hygiene comprising of handouts, pamphlets, and PowerPoint presentations specially crafted for giving information about hand hygiene. To assess the successes of the program, we will administer questionnaires, surveys and test in order to get feedback that will be checking on the costs outlay and if the objectives of the project were met. The financial needs of the project will be addressed by the hospital’s administration to ensure that the project does not fail to pick up. These finances will cover areas like staff seminars and education, analysis of data, and also in ensuring the implementation of the process. The committee to oversee the project will be sourced mainly from fellow healthcare providers in the hospital.
References
CDC. (2013). CDC - Hand Hygiene - FAQs - Infection Control in Dental Settings - Oral Health. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/OralHealth/infectioncontrol/faq/hand.htm
Stewardson, A. J., Allegranzi, B., Perneger, T. V., Attar, H., & Pittet, D. (2013). Testing the WHO hand hygiene self-assessment framework for usability and reliability. Journal of Hospital Infection, 83(1), 30-35.
WHO. (2015). A Guide to the Implementation of the WHO Multimodal Hand Hygiene Improvement Strategy. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/Guide_to_Implementation.pdf
