Ay Karadas Yasemin, Yilmaz Sahin Sibel, Dönmez Elif, Temiz Gamze
Department of Medical Services and Techniques, Bayburt University Vocational School of Health Services, Bayburt, Turkey.
Department of Surgical Diseases Nursing, University of Health Sciences, Hamidiye Faculty of Nursing, Istanbul, Turkey.
Medicine (Baltimore). 2025 Mar 21;104(12):e41903. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000041903.
Hand hygiene is an important factor in the prevention of healthcare-associated infections. Studies show healthcare professionals' hand hygiene practices vary and are not at sufficient levels. This study aimed to examine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the beliefs and practices of nurses working in intensive care units (ICU) towards hand hygiene. This was longitudinal, repeated, and cross-sectional study. The study was conducted in 2 phases between January 2,2020 and March 10,2021 in the intensive care unit of a university hospital in northern Turkey. No sampling method was used. The objective was to reach the entire population. The first phase of this study was completed with 119 (76% of the population) ICU nurses and the second phase with 85 (70% of the population) ICU nurses. The data were collected with the personal information form, hand hygiene belief scale (HHBS), hand hygiene practices inventory (HHPI) and the views of the intensive care nurses related to COVID-19. Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviations, frequency, and percentages and analytical statistics such as t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test were used for data analysis at the significance level of P < .05. The majority of the nurses who participated in the study were female (75.6%; 69.4%), with a mean age of 30.82 ± 5.51 and 30.58 ± 5.51 years, respectively. There was a significant difference (P < .05) between the median HHBS (P = .002) and HHPI (P = .001) scores before and after COVID-19. All nurses (100%) reported that the pandemic was effective in hand hygiene practices. In this study, it was determined that the hand hygiene beliefs and practices of nurses were high, and the scores of nurses' hand hygiene beliefs and practices after COVID-19 increased significantly. Healthcare professionals must always adhere to stringent standards of hand hygiene, rather than merely during periods of heightened challenges. To ensure the sustainability of optimal hand hygiene practices, it is recommended that motivational interventions that strengthen beliefs and practices related to hand hygiene should be implemented and that studies should be conducted to evaluate their effectiveness.
手部卫生是预防医疗保健相关感染的一个重要因素。研究表明，医疗保健专业人员的手部卫生习惯各不相同，且水平不足。本研究旨在探讨新冠疫情对重症监护病房（ICU）护士手部卫生信念和行为的影响。这是一项纵向、重复且横断面的研究。该研究于2020年1月2日至2021年3月10日期间在土耳其北部一家大学医院的重症监护病房分两个阶段进行。未使用抽样方法。目标是涵盖全体人员。本研究的第一阶段有119名（占总人数的76%）ICU护士完成，第二阶段有85名（占总人数的70%）ICU护士完成。数据通过个人信息表、手部卫生信念量表（HHBS）、手部卫生行为清单（HHPI）以及重症监护护士对新冠疫情的看法进行收集。在P < 0.05的显著性水平下，使用均值和标准差、频率和百分比等描述性统计方法以及t检验、曼-惠特尼U检验、克鲁斯卡尔-沃利斯检验等分析性统计方法进行数据分析。参与研究的护士大多数为女性（分别为75.6%；69.4%），平均年龄分别为30.82 ± 5.51岁和30.58 ± 5.51岁。新冠疫情前后，HHBS中位数（P = 0.002）和HHPI得分（P = 0.001）存在显著差异（P < 0.05）。所有护士（100%）报告称疫情对手部卫生行为有影响。在本研究中，确定护士的手部卫生信念和行为水平较高，且新冠疫情后护士手部卫生信念和行为得分显著提高。医疗保健专业人员必须始终坚持严格的手部卫生标准，而不仅仅是在面临更大挑战的时期。为确保最佳手部卫生行为的可持续性，建议实施强化与手部卫生相关信念和行为的激励性干预措施，并开展研究以评估其有效性。
