Improving Hand Hygiene Compliance in the NICU —Video Evaluation of Hand Hygiene Compliance—

Abstract

Newborn infants are at high risk for bacterial infection transmitted via the hands of medical staff. Both standard precautions and contact precautions have been introduced in the NICU of our hospital. In this study, compliance behavior with hand hygiene precautions was observed using video taping and evaluation on the checklists entitled “Your five moments for hand hygiene (WHO)” and “Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-care settings (CDC)”. This study found trends of hand hygiene with correct timing and with incorrect timing, respectively. Lower rates of hand hygiene were observed after touching contaminated areas such as the pubic region and after exposure to body fluids (23.1% and 33.3%, respectively), possibly because medical staff have misconceptions regarding neonatal body fluids as clean. The rate of hand hygiene before sterile procedures was also low (41.2%), possibly because many procedures are performed in the infant incubator, such as intratracheal suctioning and drip infusion. In addition, safety management tends to take priority over hand hygiene during procedures, especially in the infant incubator. This study indicates the need for measures to improve hand hygiene compliance from the aspects of safety and infection control. © 2013, Japanese Society for Infection Prevention and Control. All rights reserved.