Följsamhet till handhygien : En litteraturstudie

Background Nightingale attention that hygiene was an important task to prevent health- related infection. Today there are guidelines how hand hygiene should be followed, to prevent health- related infection. Good knowledge and education in hand hygiene and its consequences if it’s not followed is of great importance. Hand hygiene should be performed before and after the clean and the unclean work with patients and materials. Health- related infection is an infection which can affect both employees and patients as a result of care, regardless of care service. Good compliance is when hand hygiene is carried out at an appropriate time, but several studies show that this is not followed. Aim The aim with the study was to describe nurse’s knowledge and compliance to hand hygiene. Method A literature review was used to analyze scientific articles related to the topic. Results The result showed that knowledge and education was an important factor to retain compliance to hand hygiene. Hand hygiene was performed as a routine, but this could be lacking when nurses where interrupted in their working moment. Another reason why hand hygiene was not performed was that some nurses experienced skin irritation as a result. Nurses used soap and water instead of hand disinfection. Compliance was better after than before patient contact. Conclusion The authors have noted that after the hygiene education increases compliance to hand hygiene. Regular education is seen as an important part to create and maintain procedures for hand hygiene