Hand hygiene compliance among doctors in a tertiary care hospital of India

Exploring the perioperative infection control practices & incidence of surgical site infections in rural India

BACKGROUND

Surgical site infections (SSIs) affect around a third of patients undergoing surgeries worldwide, annually. It is heterogeneously distributed with a higher burden in low and middle-income countries. Although rural and semi-urban hospitals cater to 60-70% of the Indian population, scarce data regarding SSI rates are available from such hospitals. The study aimed to determine the prevalent SSI prevention practices and existing SSI rates in the smaller rural and semi-urban hospitals in India.

METHODS

This is a prospective study performed in two phases involving surgeons and their hospitals from Indian rural and semi-urban regions. In the first phase, a questionnaire was administered to surgeons enquiring into the perioperative SSI prevention practices and five interested hospitals were recruited for phase two which documented the rate of SSIs and factors affecting them.

RESULTS

There was full compliance towards appropriate perioperative sterilisation practices and postoperative mop count practice at the represented hospitals. But prophylactic antimicrobials were continued in the postoperative period in more than 80% of the hospitals. The second phase of our study documented an overall SSI rate of 7.0%. The SSI rates were influenced by the surgical wound class with dirty wounds recording six times higher rate of infection than clean cases.

CONCLUSIONS

SSI prevention practices and protocols were in place in all the less-resourced hospitals surveyed. The SSI rates are comparable or lower than other LMIC settings. However, this is accompanied by poor implementation of the antimicrobial stewardship guidelines.

Psychosocial impact of COVID-19

BACKGROUND

Along with its high infectivity and fatality rates, the 2019 Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) has caused universal psychosocial impact by causing mass hysteria, economic burden and financial losses. Mass fear of COVID-19, termed as "coronaphobia", has generated a plethora of psychiatric manifestations across the different strata of the society. So, this review has been undertaken to define psychosocial impact of COVID-19.

METHODS

Pubmed and GoogleScholar are searched with the following key terms- "COVID-19", "SARS-CoV2", "Pandemic", "Psychology", "Psychosocial", "Psychitry", "marginalized", "telemedicine", "mental health", "quarantine", "infodemic", "social media" and" "internet". Few news paper reports related to COVID-19 and psychosocial impacts have also been added as per context.

RESULTS

Disease itself multiplied by forced quarantine to combat COVID-19 applied by nationwide lockdowns can produce acute panic, anxiety, obsessive behaviors, hoarding, paranoia, and depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the long run. These have been fueled by an "infodemic" spread via different platforms of social media. Outbursts of racism, stigmatization, and xenophobia against particular communities are also being widely reported. Nevertheless, frontline healthcare workers are at higher-risk of contracting the disease as well as experiencing adverse psychological outcomes in form of burnout, anxiety, fear of transmitting infection, feeling of incompatibility, depression, increased substance-dependence, and PTSD. Community-based mitigation programs to combat COVID-19 will disrupt children's usual lifestyle and may cause florid mental distress. The psychosocial aspects of older people, their caregivers, psychiatric patients and marginalized communities are affected by this pandemic in different ways and need special attention.

CONCLUSION

For better dealing with these psychosocial issues of different strata of the society, psychosocial crisis prevention and intervention models should be urgently developed by the government, health care personnel and other stakeholders. Apt application of internet services, technology and social media to curb both pandemic and infodemic needs to be instigated. Psychosocial preparedness by setting up mental organizations specific for future pandemics is certainly necessary.

Impact of a hand hygiene audit on hand hygiene compliance in a tertiary care public sector teaching hospital in South India

BACKGROUND

Hand hygiene (HH) practice is considered the most simple, cost-effective, and efficient way to prevent device-associated infections. Continuous auditing plays a vital role in the conversion of HH knowledge into practice.

METHODS

An HH audit was carried out October 2015-September 2016 in 18 locations for a total of 1,080 observation periods and 64,800 minutes of observation. HH complete adherence rate (HHCAR) and HH partial adherence rate were analyzed.

RESULTS

The HHCAR, HH partial adherence rate, and nonadherence rate were 45.5%, 21.17%, and 33.3%, respectively. There was gradual statistically significant increase in monthly HHCAR during the study period from 37.5%-51.7% (P = .001). HHCAR was found to be highest among nurses (58.9%) followed by other staff (46.7%) and doctors (46.6%). World Health Organization Moments 3 and 4 had statistically significant compliance (78.5% and 71.8%, respectively; P < .001) compared with Moments 1, 2, and 5. As the HHCAR increases there is statistically significant decrease in device-associated infection rate from 10.6-3.9 per 1,000 device days (P = .042).

CONCLUSIONS

HH audit has a significant influence on HH compliance. More emphasis needs to be given on compliance with HH practice by doctors and with the World Health Organization "before" Moments, especially. HH audits should be a part of the infection control manual of every hospital.

Understanding Healthcare Workers Self-Reported Practices, Knowledge and Attitude about Hand Hygiene in a Medical Setting in Rural India

Aim

To describe self-reported practices and assess knowledge and attitudes regarding hand hygiene among healthcare workers in a rural Indian teaching hospital.

Setting

A rural teaching hospital and its associated medical and nursing colleges in the district of Ujjain, India.

Method

The study population consisted of physicians, nurses, teaching staff, clinical instructors and nursing students. Self-administered questionnaires based on the World Health Organization Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Healthcare were used.

Results

Out of 489 healthcare workers, 259 participated in the study (response rate = 53%). The proportion of healthcare workers that reported to ‘always’ practice hand hygiene in the selected situations varied from 40–96% amongst categories. Reported barriers to maintaining good hand hygiene were mainly related to high workload, scarcity of resources, lack of scientific information and the perception that priority is not given to hand hygiene, either on an individual or institutional level. Previous training on the topic had a statistically significant association with self-reported practice (p = 0.001). Ninety three per cent of the respondents were willing to attend training on hand hygiene in the near future.

Conclusion

Self-reported knowledge and adherence varied between situations, but hand hygiene practices have the potential to improve if the identified constraints could be reduced. Future training should focus on enhancing healthcare workers’ knowledge and understanding regarding the importance of persistent practice in all situations.