Bolcato Vittorio, Robustelli Della Cuna Francesco Saverio, Fassina Giovanni, Odone Anna, Gervasio Luisa, Bosone Daniele, Blandi Lorenzo
Legal Medicine Unit, I.R.C.C.S. Foundation Istituto Neurologico Nazionale C. Mondino, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
Department of Drug Sciences, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
Healthcare (Basel). 2023 Nov 22;11(23):3018. doi: 10.3390/healthcare11233018.
Hand hygiene plays a pivotal role in preventing Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs). Nevertheless, the quality of hand disinfection techniques remains suboptimal, and the reliability of assessment methodologies is notably lacking. This study aimed to evaluate hand disinfection techniques using an automated system in an Italian research hospital. Hospital employees underwent automated hand-disinfection technique assessment, according to the World Health Organization's six-step protocol, at a basal time and two further times. Detection was carried out with a scanner that evaluated the effective hand disinfectant coverage through a fluorescent dye present in the hydro-alcoholic gel rub. The hand-hygiene technique of 222 employees was analyzed by HandInScan. At the initial assessment of hand coverage with the hydro-alcoholic gel, the mean palm coverage was 82.2%, mean back coverage was 66.8%, and overall mean hand coverage was 74.5%. Then, two measurements were performed in June (t1) and December 2022 (t2). The third measurement showed an increase in hand coverage, with a mean palm coverage of 97.2%, a mean back coverage of 91.8%, and a mean hand coverage of 94.5% ( < 0.05). Moreover, the mean coverage of the hand-back was lower than that of the hand-palm at all times ( < 0.001). The automated scanner provided evidence supporting its effectiveness in enhancing hand hygiene among hospital employees. These findings have motivated researchers to conduct long-term studies, given the potential effects on HAI prevention-including their impact on HAI trends.
手部卫生在预防医疗相关感染（HAIs）中起着关键作用。然而，手部消毒技术的质量仍不尽人意，评估方法的可靠性也明显不足。本研究旨在评估意大利一家研究医院使用自动化系统对手部消毒技术的效果。医院员工按照世界卫生组织的六步规程，在基线时间以及另外两个时间点接受了自动化手部消毒技术评估。使用一台扫描仪进行检测，该扫描仪通过含酒精洗手液中存在的荧光染料来评估手部消毒剂的有效覆盖范围。通过HandInScan分析了222名员工的手部卫生技术。在初次评估含酒精洗手液对手部的覆盖情况时，手掌平均覆盖率为82.2%，手背平均覆盖率为66.8%，手部总体平均覆盖率为74.5%。然后，在2022年6月（t1）和12月（t2）进行了两次测量。第三次测量显示手部覆盖率有所提高，手掌平均覆盖率为97.2%，手背平均覆盖率为91.8%，手部平均覆盖率为94.5%（<0.05）。此外，在所有时间点，手背的平均覆盖率均低于手掌（<0.001）。该自动化扫描仪提供了证据，证明其在提高医院员工手部卫生方面的有效性。鉴于对预防HAIs的潜在影响，包括对HAIs趋势的影响，这些发现促使研究人员开展长期研究。
