Abstract

The purpose of this process improvement project was to help guide a medical center in a low income country, Egypt, to reduce the incidence of healthcare associated infections by improving hand hygiene practice among its healthcare workers. The goal was to increase hand hygiene by utilizing a strategic educational plan for HCWs using the WHO’s guidelines of “5 Moments of Hand Hygiene” (WHO, 2009).

The project was conducted to increase compliance in healthcare workers’ hand hygiene in an intensive care unit. The pre-observation audit identified that 42% of physicians and 71% of nurses performed hand hygiene - Moment 1 - before touching a patient. The post observation audit identified that 53% of physicians and 83% of nurses performed hand hygiene - Moment 1-before touching a patient. Nurses were observed performing 193 opportunities of hand hygiene during Moments 1–5. In all areas, nurses maintained or improved their hand hygiene practices following the World Health Organization’s “5 Moments of Hand Hygiene.” Subsequently, the one-on-one education, Moment 2 - before clean/aseptic procedure practice improved from 0% to 100% adherence. One-on-one education on hand hygiene using “5 Moments of Hand Hygiene” among healthcare workers in an intensive care unit proved to be a successful strategy for improving hand hygiene compliance.