Patients shy away from asking healthcare workers to wash hands

Patient empowerment seen as possible tool to raise hand hygiene behaviors

2012-11-12

(Press-News.org) CHICAGO (November 12, 2012) – According to a new study published online today, most patients at risk for healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) agree that healthcare workers should be reminded to wash their hands, but little more than half would feel comfortable asking their physicians to wash. The study is published in the December issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. The study points to the need for patient empowerment to improve hand hygiene of healthcare workers.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin designed and administered a questionnaire on awareness of HAIs, including information about hand hygiene, to 200 patients who were at risk for or who had a history of infections with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or Clostridium difficile and to patients who were at risk for a central line-associated bloodstream infection or surgical site infection. The survey was administered to determine patient beliefs about hand hygiene of healthcare workers and their willingness to engage healthcare workers in proper hand hygiene behaviors.

Nearly all patients (99.5 percent) believed that healthcare workers were supposed to wash their hands before and after caring for patients. Most (90.5 percent) believed that healthcare workers should be reminded to wash their hands if they forget. However, only 64 percent and 54 percent of patients indicated that they would feel comfortable asking nurses or physicians to wash their hands, respectively. Still fewer patients (14 percent) reported having ever asked a healthcare worker to wash their hands.

"Our study shows that patients have a good understanding of the importance of appropriate hand hygiene in the healthcare setting to prevent healthcare-associated infections," said Andrew Ottum, a lead author of the study. "What is clear is that more should be done to empower patients to feel comfortable asking their healthcare workers to wash their hands. This should be a focus of hand hygiene interventions."

Good hand hygiene by healthcare workers can help reduce transmission of HAIs. Appropriate hand hygiene includes healthcare workers washing their hands or using an alcohol-based hand rub before and after seeing a patient.

### Andrew Ottum, MPH, Ajay Sethi, PhD, MHS, Elizabeth Jacobs, MD, MPP, Sara Zerbel, MS, Martha Gaines, JD, LLM, Masia Safdar, MD, PhD ; "Do Patients Feel Comfortable Asking Healthcare Workers to Wash Their Hands?" Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology 33:12 (December 2012).

Published through a partnership between the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and The University of Chicago Press, Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology provides original, peer-reviewed scientific articles for anyone involved with an infection control or epidemiology program in a hospital or healthcare facility. ICHE is ranked 15 out of 140 journals in its discipline in the latest Journal Citation Reports from Thomson Reuters.

SHEA is a professional society representing more than 2,000 physicians and other healthcare professionals around the world with expertise in healthcare epidemiology and infection prevention and control. SHEA's mission is to prevent and control healthcare-associated infections and advance the field of healthcare epidemiology. The society leads this field by promoting science and research and providing high-quality education and training in epidemiologic methods and prevention strategies. SHEA upholds the value and critical contributions of healthcare epidemiology to improving patient care and healthcare worker safety in all healthcare settings. Visit SHEA online at www.shea-online.org, www.facebook.com/SHEApreventingHAIs and @SHEA_Epi.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

PI3-kinase and PARP inhibitor combo may offer new treatment option for triple-neg breast cancers

2012-11-12

PHILADELPHIA — The simultaneous inhibition of two separate and seemingly unrelated pathways could potentially provide an effective treatment for women with triple-negative breast cancer, according to results of two studies published in the November issue of Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Triple-negative breast cancers do not express three common targets of breast cancer treatments: the estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and HER2/neu. As a result, women with triple-negative breast cancer have few treatment options. In ...

UNC, Vanderbilt discover a new live vaccine approach for SARS and novel coronaviruses

2012-11-12

Rapid mutation has long been considered a key to viral adaptation to environmental change. But in the case of the coronavirus responsible for deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), collaborating researchers at the University of North Carolina and Vanderbilt University have found that accelerating the rate of mutations cripples the virus's ability to cause disease in animals. In addition, they say this finding may allow scientists to explore a new option for creating safer live vaccines. A collaborative study, published Nov. 11 in Nature Medicine, demonstrates ...

Bringing measuring accuracy to radical treatment

2012-11-12

An international team of scientists working at the Plasma Technology research unit at Ghent University, Belgium, has determined for the first time the absolute density of active substances called radicals found in a state of matter known as plasma, in a study about to be published in EPJ D. These findings could have important implications for medicine—for example, for stimulating tissue regeneration, or to induce a targeted antiseptic effect in vivo without affecting neighbouring tissues. Qing Xiong and colleagues utilised laser fluorescence spectroscopy (LIF), a detection ...

Duke Medicine news -- Genome sequencing of Burkitt Lymphoma reveals unique mutation

2012-11-12

DURHAM, N.C. – In the first broad genetic landscape mapped of a Burkitt lymphoma tumor, scientists at Duke Medicine and their collaborators identified 70 mutations, including several that had not previously been associated with cancer and a new one that was unique to the disease. Findings from the genetic sequencing of Burkitt lymphoma, an aggressive form of lymphoma, could be used to develop new drugs or aim existing therapies at mutations known to be susceptible. The researchers published their findings online Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012, in the journal Nature Genetics. "This ...

News from Annals of Internal Medicine

2012-11-12

Philadelphia, November 12, 2012 – A new article being published early online in Annals of Internal Medicine describes the diagnosis and treatment protocol established in a Roanoke, Va. hospital to care for dozens of patients presenting with suspected fungal meningitis related to contaminated epidural spinal injections. This unprecedented surge of patients seeking care for a rare central nervous system (CNS) infection required physicians to react quickly with little data to guide treatment decisions. The authors suggest that the data collected from these cases may fill information ...

Genetic link between pancreatitis and alcohol consumption, says Pitt team

2012-11-12

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 12, 2012 – A new study published online today in Nature Genetics reveals a genetic link between chronic pancreatitis and alcohol consumption. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and more than 25 other health centers across the United States found a genetic variant on chromosome X near the claudin-2 gene (CLDN2) that predicts which men who are heavy drinkers are at high risk of developing chronic pancreatitis. This finding enables doctors to identify people with early signs of pancreatitis or an attack of acute pancreatitis ...

Job stress and mental health problems contribute to higher rates of physician suicide

2012-11-12

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Doctors who commit suicide appear to be under-treated for mental health problems, despite their seemingly good access to health care, a new University of Michigan study shows. Although more physicians than non-physicians in the study had known mental health problems prior to suicide, this didn't translate into a higher rate of antidepressant use, according to the study, which appears in General Hospital Psychiatry and provides a deeper look at why physicians may have a higher-than-average suicide rate. Major depression is a known risk factor for ...

Robots enable scar-free hysterectomies for some women

2012-11-12

AUGUSTA, Ga. – The precision and three-dimensional view provided by robots can enable essentially scar-free surgery for some women needing hysterectomies, physicians report. The case report in the Journal of Minimal Access Surgery is of a 46-year-old physically fit female with a history of excessive bleeding and benign growths on her uterus. Her surgery was performed through a two inch-long incision in the belly button, the thinnest part of the abdomen, using the robotic arms in a "chopstick" fashion, said Dr. John R. Lue, Chief of the Medical College of Georgia Section ...

Desecrated ancient temple sheds light on early power struggles at Tel Beth-Shemesh

2012-11-12

Tel Aviv University researchers have uncovered a unique 11th century BCE sacred compound at the site of Tel Beth-Shemesh, an ancient village that resisted the aggressive expansion of neighboring Philistines. The newly discovered sacred complex is comprised of an elevated, massive circular stone structure and an intricately constructed building characterized by a row of three flat, large round stones. Co-directors of the dig Prof. Shlomo Bunimovitz and Dr. Zvi Lederman of TAU's Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology say that this temple complex is unparalleled, ...

FASEB urges biomedical research community to speak out against sequestration

2012-11-12

Bethesda, MD – The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) is rallying the biomedical research community to advocate against devastating funding cuts facing the nation's research agencies unless Congress acts before the end of the year. Under sequestration, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) could lose $2.8 billion and would fund 25 percent (2,300) fewer grants. The National Science Foundation (NSF) could be cut by nearly $600 million. More than 5,800 emails have been sent to Congress in response to a FASEB e-action alert urging individuals ...

The American Pediatric Society selects Dr. Harolyn Belcher as the recipient of the 2026 David G. Nichols Health Equity Award

NCCN celebrates expanding access to cancer treatment in Africa at 2025 AORTIC Meeting with new NCCN adaptations for Sub-Saharan Africa

Three health tech innovators recognized for digital solutions to transform cardiovascular care

A sequence of human rights violations precedes mass atrocities, new research shows

[Press-News.org] Patients shy away from asking healthcare workers to wash hands
Patient empowerment seen as possible tool to raise hand hygiene behaviors

Patients shy away from asking healthcare workers to wash hands

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: