An integrative review exploring the perceptions of patients and healthcare professionals towards patient involvement in promoting hand hygiene compliance in the hospital setting

© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Aims and objectives: To review patients’ and healthcare professionals’ perceptions of patient involvement in promoting hand hygiene compliance in the hospital setting. Background: Initiatives continue to emphasise the importance of involving patients in their safety at the point of care. A patient-centred care approach aimed to empower patients to become active members of the healthcare team. However, understanding the perceptions of patients and healthcare professionals of patient involvement in promoting hand hygiene compliance among healthcare professionals has yet to be fully explored. Design: Integrative literature review. Methods: A five-stage review process informed by Whittemore and Knafl's methodology was conducted. MEDLINE and CINAHL were searched for papers published between January 2009–July 2017. Data were extracted manually, organised using NVivo 11 and analysed using thematic analysis. Results: From an identified 240 papers, 19 papers were included in this review. Thematic analysis revealed two main themes with three related subthemes. Patients were willing to remind healthcare professionals (especially nurses) to wash their hands, healthcare professionals perception towards patients’ involvement varied from one study to another. However, an overall positive attitude towards patient involvement was related to how patients asked and how healthcare professionals responded to being asked. Conclusion: There is limited evidence regarding patients’ actual intention to ask healthcare professionals to wash their hands, and some evidence that patients are reluctant to do so. Further research is required to understand this area thoroughly, including which situations patients would feel more empowered to speak up. Relevance to clinical practice: Simple messages promoting patient involvement may lead to complex reactions in both patients and healthcare professionals. It is unclear, yet how patients and staff react to such messages in clinical practice. There is a need for a deeper understanding of how they can work together to support harm free care