Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Turkiye Klinikleri Pediatri, cilt.30, sa.2, ss.127-137, 2021 (Scopus)
© 2021 OrtadogŸu Reklam Tanitim Yayincilik Turizm Egitim Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S.. All rights reserved.Objective: Hand-hygiene is important for prevention of nosocomial infections. The aim of this study was increasing awareness and knowledge of healthcare workers and caregivers about hand-hygiene, generating evidence about pathogen growth on the hands and improving hand-hygiene. Material and Methods: Healthcare workers and caregivers of patients in pediatric hematology unit was the study group. In a six week period, without informing the timing of the procedure, hand cultures were performed from the study group by requesting wearing sterile gloves filled with liquid culture medium. In the following four weeks, repeated training sessions were performed every week about hand washing and using alcohol hand rub. Posters were placed on the walls showing microorganisms on the hands, hand washing techniques and procedures requiring hand hygiene. In the following six weeks, hand cultures were performed again. Frequency of the bacterial growth and colony counts were compared in the pre-training and post-training cultures. Results: Pretraining 200, post training 180 hand cultures were performed. Significant decrease were seen in post-training samples in Acinetobacter (p<0.02), Bacillus (p<0.012), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (p<0.007), methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (p<0.001), Pseudomonas spp (out of Pseudomonas aeruginosa) (p<0.043), Staphylococcus epidermidis (p<0.001) and Staphylococcus haemolyticus (p<0.005). Colony counts also decreased significantly in post-training cultures, compared to pre-training cultures (p<0.001). Decrease in colony counts were significant both in healtcare workers and caregivers (physicians p<0.001, nurses p<0.001, cleaning staff p<0.002, caregivers p<0.001). Decrease in colony counts were significant in Enterobacter cloacae and S. epidermidis (p<0.008, p<0.001). Conclusion: Repeated training sessions and posters about hand hygiene and screening with hand cultures improve hand hygiene.