Anesthesia & Clinical Research
Open Access

Abstract

Anesthesiologists' Compliance with Institutional Hand Hygiene Policies

Fareena Khan and Robyna Irshad Khan

Objective: To determine the frequency of adequate Hand Hygiene (HH) practice during routine anesthetic care and HH amongst Anesthesiologists working in a tertiary care hospital.

Introduction: Anesthesia as a field is fraught with a high bulk of invasive and infection-prone techniques. Hand mediated conduction is the chief causal factor to Health Care Associated Infections (HCAI’s). In addition, the intra operative environment assists as a reason for the expansion of infections. Ineffective hand washing and gloving during patient contact are common factors whenever there is a prevalence of contact with patient blood and saliva. This study was conducted to observe the adherence of anesthesia personal with institutional guidelines.

Methodology: 6 months. It was a cross-sectional descriptive study. Data on Hand Hygiene (HH) in relation to anesthesia care was collected from residents and consultants during 225 surgical and non-surgical procedures. A total of 1300 HH moments were recorded. During anesthetic care opportunities and in other indicated scenarios, practice of HH was examined. Observations were carried out randomly, data was collected anonymously. Hand Hygiene was considered adequate when all 5 moments of an observed opportunity were performed. It was collected at different points in time and from different sites and recorded on the attached performa made in accordance with the institutional guidelines.

Results: Statistics on HH relative to anesthesia care were collected from residents and consultants during 225 surgical and non-surgical procedures mostly during the day and at times during the night. A total of 1300 HH moments were recorded. Among these 103 (45.78%) female and 122 (54.22%) observations out of 225 were recorded. The general adherence to HH guidelines recorded (53.9%). HH was considered adequate when it was followed in all the 5 moments of an observed opportunity on a particular participant. Only 8% of the total sample performed HH adequately.

Conclusion: It is evidently clear that current rates of HH compliance are below acceptable levels. Thus we can conclude that dynamic application of robust infection control guidelines and intentional actions are compulsory to attain advanced level of HH.