Exploring determinants of hand hygiene among hospital nurses: a qualitative study

Perceptions and decision-making of dental professionals to adopting sustainable waste management behaviour: a Theory of Planned Behaviour analysis

Background High carbon emissions associated with clinical waste disposal in dentistry pose an environmental and public health concern. Current NHS guidelines do not mandate sustainable waste management resulting in recyclable dental waste being incinerated. In the absence of such policies, decision to implement sustainable waste management practices falls upon dental professionals who rely on their own knowledge and beliefs about the environmental impact of dentistry. Literature exploring barriers to sustainable waste management by dental professionals require further insight on dental professionals' decision-making processes. Therefore, this study uses a behavioural decision-making model - the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) - to explore sustainable waste segregation behaviour of dental professionals based on their attitudes and beliefs about sustainable dentistry and climate change.Methods Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with dental professionals between October and November 2022 in dental practices in Fife, Scotland. Interviews were analysed using Braun and Clarke's reflexive thematic data analysis.Findings Following thematic analysis, eight themes were identified around the participants' attitudes, perceived subjective norms and perceived behavioural control, pointing at the way knowledge gaps and lack of awareness were often linked with attitudes which are associated with low intention to execute sustainable waste management.Conclusions TPB offers a useful framework to understand waste segregation behaviour of dental professionals. Further studies are required to further establish sustainable waste management behaviour.

Determinants of hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers in intensive care units: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Practicing hand hygiene is a cost-effective method to decrease the occurrence of Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs). However, despite their simplicity, adhering to hand hygiene methods among healthcare workers (HCWs) can be highly challenging. We aim to examine the factors influencing hand hygiene compliance as perceived by HCWs working in the intensive care units (ICUs) at several major hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

METHOD

This qualitative study was conducted by adopting a content analysis to examine the interviews of HCWs who are currently working in the ICUs of various major hospitals located in the capital city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

RESULTS

We interviewed 49 HCWs working in ICUs, with an average age of 38 and 8 years of experience. The HCWs comprised doctors (n = 12), anesthesiologists (n = 6), and nurses (n = 31). There were 34 females and 15 males among the participants. Our analysis revealed several factors that impact hand hygiene compliance, including individual, work/environment, team, task, patient, organizational, and management concerns. Several obstacles and possibilities for enhancement have been identified.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study would enhance our comprehension of hand hygiene practices and serve as a foundation for creating future strategies and assessment methods to enhance compliance with hand hygiene protocols in ICUs.

Exploring determinants of hand hygiene among nursing students: A theory of planned behavior approach

BACKGROUND

This study aims to assess the hand hygiene behavior of nursing students and identify the factors influencing this behavior through the "Scale for Assessment Hand Washing Behavior in the Frame of Theory of Planned Behaviour (SAHBTPB)".

METHODS

This descriptive and cross-sectional study was undertaken at the nursing departments of the university's faculty of health sciences in İzmir, Turkey between 2021 and 2022. A total of 240 nursing students were recruited as participants for this study. Data were collected with the SAHBTPB. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Chi-square test, and correlation analysis in the SPSS 21.0 program (p < .05).

RESULTS

Participation rate was 74.76%. The mean age of the students was 20.59 ± 1.59 years and 69.9% were woman. The nursing students' total mean score of SAHBTPB was 147.5 ± 14.0 (min = 94; max = 176). There was a positively significant association between the total score and students' gender, graduate level, and hand hygiene education status. There was no significant difference in scale total score mean based on the existence of dermatological problems on the students' hands or their frequency of hand hygiene (p > .05).

CONCLUSION

The mean scores of nursing students on the SAHBTPB were found to be at a good level. The sub-dimension "intention" was identified as an effective factor in predicting the hand hygiene behavior of the students. The findings have the potential to positively impact nursing education by increasing awareness among students and offering valuable insights for nurses and educators.

Motivational interview and teach back: effectiveness on the rate of hand hygiene compliance in ICU Nurses

Introduction

Hand hygiene in nurses is the most effective factor in controlling nosocomial infections. The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of motivational interviews and teach-back on the rate of hand hygiene compliance in Intensive Care Unit nurses.

Methods

A quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test design was performed. Three Intensive Care Units with 88 nurses were randomly divided into three study groups. The control group received only the usual hospital teaching in hand hygiene, the experimental groups 1 and 2, in addition to the usual teaching, they received motivational interview and teach back in five weekly sessions, respectively. The rate of hand hygiene compliance in nurses was measured by Hand Hygiene Practices Inventory.

Results

There was a statistically significant difference for the rate of hand hygiene compliance before and after the intervention in the study groups with p < 0.001. In comparison before and after, in experimental group 1, the rate of hand rub increased from 8% to 18.5% and the rate of hand wash from 1.5% to 22%; and in the experimental group 2, these values increased from 4% to 19.5% in hand rub and from 3.5% to 17% in hand wash, respectively. However, in the control group, the rate of hand hygiene compliance before and after the test did not show a statistically significant difference with p > 0.05.

Conclusions

Motivational interview and teach back methods were effective in promoting hand hygiene compliance in nurses and thus improve the control of nosocomial infections.

The effect of education based on health belief model on hand hygiene behavior in the staff of Tehran dentistry centers: A quasi-experimental intervention study

Background and Aims

Considering the increasing prevalence of dental services in the community and the impossibility of identifying each infected patient, hand sanitation is the most critical factor in controlling infection in these centers. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effect of educational intervention on the hand health behavior of the staff of Tehran dentistry clinics based on the health belief model (HBM).

Methods

In this quasi-experimental study in 2017, 128 employees of the health centers were selected through a multistage sampling method and they were placed in two groups of intervention and control (each 64 people). The data was collected using a questionnaire devised by the researcher. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were determined. The questionnaire consisted of demographics, knowledge, structures of the HBM, and behavior variables. Then, the intervention was administered based on HBM-based education. Data were analyzed by SPSS16 and independent t test, χ 2, and repeated measurement analysis of variance.

Results

Before the intervention, the two intervention and control groups did not differ significantly in terms of demographic variables, mean scores of knowledge, constructs of HBM, and hand hygiene behavior (p > 0.05), while the intervention group was scored higher significantly compared to the control one after the intervention (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

According to the findings, the HBM can be used as a framework for designing educational interventions to improve hand hygiene behavior to control infection in health centers.

Difference between self-reported adherence to standard precautions and surveillance and factors influencing observed adherence: a quantile regression approach

Background

Standard precautions are minimum healthcare-associated infection prevention practices applied in all healthcare settings. The aim of this study was to investigate adherence to standard precautions using a survey and surveillance. Factors affecting observed adherence to standard precautions were also determined.

Methods

This cross-sectional observational study included 163 clinical nurses who were directly involved in patient care. Differences in adherence according to investigative methods are represented as a boxplot. Quantile regression was used to identify factors affecting observed adherence, including organizational factors (such as department, safety environment, and patient safety climate) and personal factors (such as knowledge and awareness). Stata SE version 14.2 was used for all statistical analyses.

Results

The observed adherence to standard precautions was 76.8 out of 100, whereas the self-reported adherence was approximately 95. Hand hygiene adherence received the lowest score of less than 70. Factors influencing observed adherence were self-reported adherence (p = 0.043) in 25% and 50% quantiles, work experience (p = 0.002) in the 25% quantile, and working department (p = 0.030) in the 50% quantile. There were no significant factors in the 75% quantile.

Conclusion

Inadequate adherence to standard precautions might increase healthcare-associated infections. Thus, an organizational environment such as nurse staffing needs to be established so that clinical nurses with high competency can comply with standard precautions in clinical settings.

Internet of things in healthcare for patient safety: an empirical study

Introduction

This study evaluates the impact of an Internet of Things (IoT) intervention in a hospital unit and provides empirical evidence on the effects of smart technologies on patient safety (patient falls and hand hygiene compliance rate) and staff experiences.

Method

We have conducted a post-intervention analysis of hand hygiene (HH) compliance rate, and a pre-and post-intervention interrupted time-series (ITS) analysis of the patient falls rates. Lastly, we investigated staff experiences by conducting semi-structured open-ended interviews based on Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation Theory.

Results

The results showed that (i) there was no statistically significant change in the mean patient fall rates. ITS analysis revealed non-significant incremental changes in mean patient falls (− 0.14 falls/quarter/1000 patient-days). (ii) HH compliance rates were observed to increase in the first year then decrease in the second year for all staff types and room types. (iii) qualitative interviews with the nurses reported improvement in direct patient care time, and a reduced number of patient falls.

Conclusion

This study provides empirical evidence of some positive changes in the outcome variables of interest and the interviews with the staff of that unit reported similar results as well. Notably, our observations identified behavioral and environmental issues as being particularly important for ensuring success during an IoT innovation implementation within a hospital setting.

Study on the Formation Mechanism of Medical and Health Organization Staff's Emergency Preparedness Behavioral Intention: From the Perspective of Psychological Capital

Medical and Health Organization (MHO) staff's emergency preparedness awareness and behaviors are essential variables that affect public health emergency response effectiveness. Based on the theory of psychological capital and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study discusses the mechanism of the psychological characteristics of MHO staff on their emergency preparedness behavioral intention (EPBI). To verify the research model, we conducted a web-based questionnaire survey among 243 MHO staff from China and analyzed the data using the structural equation modeling software, AMOS 24.0 (IBM, New York, United States). The empirical results reveal that psychological capital significantly affected cognitive processes theorized by TPB. This study suggests that the positive psychological capital of MHO staff should be developed and managed to improve their EPBI.

Association between self-efficacy and general health: a cross-sectional study of the nursing population

BACKGROUND

The present research aimed to explore the association of self-efficacy and general health among nurses.

METHODS

This was a descriptive-analytical. A total of 470 nurses were selected through the stratified sampling method. To collect the required data, GSE-10 and GHQ-28 were used. Independent-sample T-test, Pearson correlation coefficient, Chi-squared test, and regression were also used to analyze the obtained data.

RESULTS

The results reveal a statistically significant correlation between general health and self-efficacy (t=-6.72, p < .001). Among general health parameters, social functioning has significantly predicted self-efficacy.

CONCLUSIONS

As shown in the present findings, an acceptable level of self-efficacy can positively affect all aspects of nurses' general health.