Patient involvement in healthcare professionals’ hand hygiene compliance before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Anna Szczypta; Kamil Drożdż; Edyta Szydło; Mirosław Szura; Katarzyna Talaga-Ćwiertnia

doi:10.5114/ms.2024.140975

eISSN: 2300-6722
ISSN: 1899-1874

Medical Studies/Studia Medyczne

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abstract:

Original paper

Patient involvement in healthcare professionals’ hand hygiene compliance before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Anna Szczypta

^{1, 2}

,

Kamil Drożdż

³

,

Edyta Szydło

⁴

,

Mirosław Szura

^{2, 5}

,

Katarzyna Talaga-Ćwiertnia

³

Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University, Krakow, Poland
St. John Grande Hospital, Krakow, Poland
Jagiellonian University Medical College, Faculty of Medicine, Chair of Microbiology, Department of Molecular Medical Microbiology, Kraków, Poland
Department of Nursing, Institute of Health and Economics, State University of Applied Sciences, Krosno, Poland
Jagiellonian University Medical College, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Surgery, Krakow, Poland

Medical Studies/Studia Medyczne 2024; 40 (2): 113–123

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5114/ms.2024.140975

Online publish date: 2024/06/29

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Introduction
The need to educate the public about proper hand hygiene (HH) practices has gained prominence in light of the global epidemiological situation, particularly the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aim of the research
To examine the patients’ views of Health Care Providers’ (HCPs) HH compliance before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Material and methods
The study was conducted through a diagnostic survey and involved 192 participants.

Results
According to 84.9% of respondents, HCPs’ HH is significant for patients’ health. This belief was held by most respondents both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (p = 0.018). The greater part of respondents (74.5%) believed that the observance of HH by HCPs prevents infections among patients. However, notably, during the pandemic, there was a significant increase in the proportion of respondents who associated HCPs’ HH practices with professionalism (45.4% vs. 63.2%, p = 0.014). Nurses were more likely to perform hand hygiene than other HCPs before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (p = 0.034).

Conclusions
During the COVID-19 pandemic, patients considered HCPs to be more professional or thought that medics were much more likely to perform HH before examining a patient or performing sterile procedures. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic affected the perception of nurses as those HCPs who perform hand hygiene more often than others. The pandemic did not change patients’ beliefs about the possibility of influencing the hygiene behaviour of HCPs. In contrast, patients observed that hand hygiene was promoted more often during the pandemic than before the pandemic.

keywords:

Patient involvement in healthcare professionals’ hand hygiene compliance before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Anna Szczypta 1, 2 , Kamil Drożdż 3 , Edyta Szydło 4 , Mirosław Szura 2, 5 , Katarzyna Talaga-Ćwiertnia 3

patient safety, hand hygiene, infection prevention, patient empowerment, COVID-19 pandemic

Anna Szczypta

^{1, 2}

,

Kamil Drożdż

³

,

Edyta Szydło

⁴

,

Mirosław Szura

^{2, 5}

,

Katarzyna Talaga-Ćwiertnia

³