Abstract
Objective
To evaluate hand hygiene compliance by health professionals working in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and verify the association of compliance between the five moments recommended by the World Health Organization.
Methods
This is cross-sectional research, carried out between November/2017 and April/2018, with a multidisciplinary health staff from a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, in the morning and afternoon shifts, on weekdays, through direct observation of opportunities for cleaning the hands. Data were analyzed using Odds Ratio and Fisher’s exact test (p<0.05).
Results
A total of 304 hand hygiene opportunities were observed in 71 health professionals, showing an overall compliance rate of 79.9%. The highest hand hygiene compliance was by physical therapists (91.9%), followed by physicians (82.4%) and nursing technicians (82%). Opportunities with greater hand hygiene compliance were “before and after touching a patient” with 94.4 and 93.9%, respectively. The chance of washing hands before touching a patient was 60 times greater than after touching patient surroundings (p < 0.00001).
Conclusion
Hygienizing hands after touching patient surroundings had lower compliance. Hygiene hands before touching a patient obtained greater compliance by the professionals observed.
Intensive care units, neonatal; Hand disinfection; Patient safety