Healthcare worker adoption rates of protocols in the World Health Organization's primary hand hygiene program, My Five Moments for Hand Hygiene, depend on the type of hospital unit, type of provider-patient encounter and attitudes about planned behavior and behavioral change, according to a study published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
Researchers surveyed and observed more than 100 healthcare workers, half of whom were nurses.
While healthcare workers self-reported 82.4 percent compliance with 5MHH measures, the observed compliance rate was 23.2 percent. Compliance was more likely during critical care encounters, medicine unit encounters, immunocompromised patient encounters and encounters when healthcare workers prioritized patient advocacy.
Positive attitudes toward the effectiveness in planned behavioral change were associated with both self-reported and observed 5MHH compliance.
The study concluded while knowledge of behavioral factors influencing compliance may assist in the design of hand hygiene interventions, how to increase uptake of hand hygiene behaviors for the My Five Moments for Hand Hygiene framework is uncertain.
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