Journal of infection and public health
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J Infect Public Health · Feb 2013
The effect of hand hygiene compliance on hospital-acquired infections in an ICU setting in a Kuwaiti teaching hospital.
Hand washing is widely accepted as the cornerstone of infection control in the intensive care unit (ICU). Nosocomial infections are frequently viewed as indicating poor compliance with hand washing guidelines. To determine the hand hygiene (HH) compliance rate among healthcare workers (HCWs) and its effect on the nosocomial infection rates in the ICU of our hospital, we conducted an interventional study. ⋯ There were significant reductions in the following: the rate of overall health care-associated infections/1000 patient-days, which fell from 37.2 pre-intervention to 15.1 post-intervention (P<0.001); the rate of bloodstream infections, which fell from 18.6 to 3.4/1000 central-line-days (P<0.001); and the rate of lower respiratory tract infections, which fell from 17.6 to 5.2/1000 ventilator-days (P<0.001). Similarly, there were significant reductions in the isolation rates of 4 major hospital pathogens (P<0.001 and P=0.03). These findings suggest that although cross-infection in the ICU is a complex process, its frequency can be affected by meticulous adherence to hand hygiene recommendations.