Abstract
Background: Healthcare workers’ (HCWs) adherence to hand hygiene is vital in combatting COVID-19 in hospitals. We aimed to investigate HCWs hand hygiene compliance before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and hypothesised that hand hygiene compliance would increase during the pandemic.
Methods: We conducted a prospective observational study in three medical departments at the Regional Hospital of West Jutland, Denmark from April 2019 to August 2020. A total of 150 HCWs participated before the COVID-19 pandemic and 136 during the pandemic. Hand hygiene observations were assessed using an automated hand hygiene monitoring system. Students unpaired t-test was used to assess differences in hand hygiene compliance rates in each department.
Results: Comparison analyses showed, that hand hygiene compliance in department A and B was significantly higher before the COVID-19 pandemic than during the pandemic; a 7% difference in department A and a 5% difference in department B. For department C, the total hand hygiene compliance was unchanged during the pandemic compared to before.
Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic did not raise hand hygiene compliance. Further studies are needed to verify these findings and further identify barriers to hand hygiene compliance among HCWs.
Keywords: Automated hand hygiene monitoring system; Hospital setting; Infection control.
【저자키워드】 infection control., Automated hand hygiene monitoring system, Hospital setting, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, pandemic, prospective observational study, COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare worker, hospitals, HCWs, Compliance, automated, Denmark, hand hygiene, hygiene, HCW, observation, student, t-test, West, Regional, raise, identify, was used, conducted, analysis, significantly higher, hypothesised, Jutland, participated, were assessed, would increase, 【제목키워드】 COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare worker, Compliance, hand hygiene,