Hand hygiene intervention can lower nursing home mortality: study

19th of March 2018
Hand hygiene intervention can lower nursing home mortality: study

Improved hand hygiene among nursing home staff could dramatically reduce the mortality rate, according to a new study.

Around 30 per cent fewer deaths were recorded when a multicomponent hand hygiene programme was implemented in 26 French nursing homes.

The programme comprised new hand hygiene dispensers, access to pocket-sized hand-rubs and a hand hygiene campaign using posters and events. Local work groups were also formed to focus on staff education. Nursing home staff were given online quizzes at the end of the programme and those with a low score were invited to repeat the education stage.

At the end of the 12-month study, researchers recorded a 30 per cent lower mortality rate in the intervention group during a period when France was experiencing a major influenza epidemic. The study is believed to be among the first to assess hand hygiene practices outside a hospital through a randomised controlled trial.

"Hand hygiene protocols have traditionally focused on acute care settings," said lead study author professor Laura Temime. "Our study is changing this narrative, underscoring the fact that we can take a proven intervention practice and make it work outside the hospital space by specifically adapting it to long-term settings."

The study's findings were published in the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology's publication the American Journal of Infection Control.

According to APIC president Janet Haas: "This research demonstrates that a sustained educational programme focused on hand hygiene can improve practices and may reduce the risk of infection among nursing home patients. It is crucial that we increase efforts to bolster infection prevention programmes in nursing homes because residents of these facilities have more underlying health conditions and are more vulnerable to serious complications from infections."

 

 

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