Hand hygiene with alcohol hand rub and gloves reduces the incidence of late onset sepsis in preterm neonates

Aim To assess the impact of a hand hygiene protocol, using hand washing, alcohol hand rub and gloves when caring for preterm infants born after 31 weeks of gestation, on the incidence of neonatal late onset sepsis ( LOS ). Methods All babies delivered between 32 + 0 and 36 + 6 weeks gestation and admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit during a 14‐month period were included. We followed a hand hygiene protocol with hand washing and alcohol hand rub (hand rub period) for the first 7 months and a protocol of hand washing, alcohol hand rub and gloves (gloves period) for the second 7 months. The hand rub and gloves groups consisted of 111 and 89 patients, respectively. Results Five patients were diagnosed with a total of six episodes of LOS in the hand rub group, and the incidence of LOS during the hand rub period was 2.99/1000 hospital days and 54.1/1000 admissions. There were no patients diagnosed with LOS during the gloves period (significant decrease, p = 0.028). Conclusion Using a hand hygiene protocol with hand washing, hand rub and gloves significantly reduced the incidence of LOS in preterm newborns, and the results suggest that it may produce a sustained improvement in the infection rate.