Vanesa Chebenová, Veronika Bučková, Zuzana Škvarková, Natália Balintová, Jaroslava Sokolová
Department of Hospital Hygiene and Epidemiology, University Hospital Trnava, Trnava, Slovakia.
Center for Microbiology and Infection Prevention, Faculty of Health and Social Work, University of Trnava in Trnava, Trnava, Slovakia.
Infect Prev Pract. 2025 Aug 14;7(4):100481. doi: 10.1016/j.infpip.2025.100481. eCollection 2025 Dec.
Hand hygiene (HH) among healthcare professionals (HCPs) is a key component in ensuring safe and high-quality healthcare. Monitoring the Five moments for HH according to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines remains the gold standard for compliance assessment. Proper HH is the most effective measure to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAI).
This cross-sectional study aimed to quantify HH compliance and alcohol-based hand rub (ABHR) consumption among HCPS at the University Hospital Trnava in Slovakia and to compare results between the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic periods.
HH compliance was monitored during the pre-pandemic period (2018-2019) and the post-pandemic period (2022-2023). Compliance was assessed among different groups of HCPs - physicians, nurses and other healthcare personnel (e.g., physiotherapists, orderlies and students). Monitoring was conducted using WHO methodology and recorded via the OBSERVE app.
During the pre-pandemic period, overall HH compliance was 50.2% (95% CI, 48.7.-51.8), with nurses demonstrating the highest compliance rate. In the post-pandemic period, HH compliance remained nearly unchanged at (50.8%; 95% CI, 48.9-52.7). ABHR consumption increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, peaking at 48.4 litres/1 000 patient days (PD), but declined to 31.5 litres/1 000 PD by 2023.
The COVID-19 pandemic positively influenced ABHR consumption and raised awareness of the importance of HH in clinical practice. However, overall HH compliance did not improve post-pandemic. Direct observation supported by a digital application proved to be an effective method for collecting HH compliance data.
医疗保健专业人员（HCPs）的手部卫生（HH）是确保安全和高质量医疗保健的关键组成部分。根据世界卫生组织（WHO）指南监测HH的五个时刻仍然是合规性评估的金标准。正确的HH是预防医疗保健相关感染（HAI）的最有效措施。
这项横断面研究旨在量化斯洛伐克特尔纳瓦大学医院HCPs的HH合规性和酒精基洗手液（ABHR）的消耗量，并比较大流行前和大流行后时期的结果。
在大流行前时期（2018 - 2019年）和大流行后时期（2022 - 2023年）监测HH合规性。在不同组的HCPs（医生、护士和其他医护人员，如物理治疗师、勤杂工和学生）中评估合规性。使用WHO方法进行监测，并通过OBSERVE应用程序记录。
在大流行前时期，总体HH合规率为50.2%（95%CI，48.7 - 51.8），护士的合规率最高。在大流行后时期，HH合规率几乎保持不变（50.8%；95%CI，48.9 - 52.7）。在COVID - 19大流行期间，ABHR消耗量显著增加，峰值为48.4升/1000患者日（PD），但到2023年降至31.5升/1000 PD。
COVID - 19大流行对ABHR消耗量产生了积极影响，并提高了临床实践中HH重要性的认识。然而，大流行后总体HH合规性并未改善。由数字应用程序支持的直接观察被证明是收集HH合规数据的有效方法。
