Open AccessReduction of nosocomial infections in the intensive care unit using an electronic hand hygiene compliance monitoring system
Author(s) -
Gülşen Akkoç,
Ahmet Soysal,
Fethi Gül,
Eda Kepenekli Kadayıfçı,
Mustafa Kemal Arslantaş,
Nurhayat Yakut,
Beliz Bilgili,
Sevliya Öcal Demir,
Murat Haliloğlu,
Umut Sabri Kasapoğlu,
İsmail Cinel
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of infection in developing countries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.322
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 2036-6590
pISSN - 1972-2680
DOI - 10.3855/jidc.14156
Subject(s) - hygiene , medicine , incidence (geometry) , health care , rate ratio , intensive care unit , infection control , emergency medicine , intensive care medicine , pediatrics , confidence interval , physics , pathology , optics , economics , economic growth
Healthcare-associated infection is an important cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Well-regulated infection control and hand hygiene are the most effective methods for preventing healthcare-associated infections. This study evaluated and compared conventional hand hygiene observation and an electronic hand-hygiene recording and reminder system for preventing healthcare-associated infections.
Methodology: This pre- and post-intervention study, employed an electronic hand-hygiene recording and reminder system for preventing healthcare-associated infections at a tertiary referral center. Healthcare-associated infection surveillance was recorded in an anesthesia and reanimation intensive care unit from April 2016 to August 2016. Hand-hygiene compliance was observed by conventional observation and an electronic recording and reminder system in two consecutive 2-month periods. healthcare-associated infections were calculated as incidence rate ratios.
Results: The rate of healthcare-associated infections in the electronic hand- hygiene recording and reminder system period was significantly decreased compared with that in the conventional hand-hygiene observation period (incidence rate ratio = 0.58; 95% confident interval = 0.33-0.98). Additionally, the rate of central line-associated bloodstream infections and the rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia were lower during the electronic hand hygiene recording and reminder system period (incidence rate ratio= 0.41; 95% confident interval = 0.11-1.30 and incidence rate ratio = 0.67; 95% confident interval = 0.30-1.45, respectively).
Conclusions: After implementing the electronic hand hygiene recording and reminder system, we observed a significant decrease in healthcare-associated infections and invasive device-associated infections. These results were encouraging and suggested that electronic hand hygiene reminder and recording systems may reduce some types of healthcare-associated infections in healthcare settings.