Improving Hand Hygiene amongst Anesthesia Providers

Abstract

Purpose: This project aimed to improve the knowledge base on hand hygiene as it relates to theanesthesia profession and to improve the overall performance of anesthesia provider hand hygiene compliance. Background: Hand hygiene recommendations have been easily followed in nearly all hospital areas. However, proper adherence to hand hygiene by anesthesia providers has proven difficult due to challenges that are inherently present when providing safe anesthetic care. Ineffective hand hygiene by providers has contributed towards the development of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs). HAIs burden the healthcare system and exploration into methods that can reduce their occurrence are warranted. One strategy to reduce HAIs is improving anesthesia provider hand hygiene. Methods: The design of this project utilized an in-person educational PowerPoint presentation followed by a post-pre survey applying retrospective pretest methodology to assess the knowledge base of participating anesthesia providers and to evaluate new learning. Results: Statistically significant increases in anesthesia provider knowledge was found after evaluation of the post-pre surveys. Additionally, providers reported an increased willingness to perform adequate hand hygiene. Conclusions: This project demonstrated how an educational session led to an improved knowledge base amongst anesthesia providers on hand hygiene importance. The project demonstrated how increased awareness can lead to improved hand hygiene rates.