CANADA: Handwashing not top priority with doctors, nurses: Expert

16.sep.09
The Windsor Star
Frances Willick

Nurses and doctors believe they're too busy to wash their hands properly
before tending to patients, says a University of Windsor researcher.
"They're very busy. They're rush rush rush, and when you rush, you're
more likely to brush aside the hand hygiene practices," said Maher
El-Masri, research leadership chair in the Faculty of Nursing.
El-Masri recently collaborated with a researcher at the University of
Miami on a study of handwashing compliance at a Florida hospital. The
study revealed that the hospital's overall compliance rate was just 34.3
per cent.
"It was a bit surprising, given all the attention given to the
importance of handwashing. Nurses and doctors are supposed to have 100
per cent compliance."
El-Masri said health professionals know they shouldn't neglect to
disinfect.
"The truth of the matter is that health care practitioners know they
have to wash their hands. It's more of a behaviour problem than a
knowledge problem."
Other factors such as a lack of enforcement of handwashing protocol,
understaffing at hospitals and concerns about dry, cracked hands likely
deter health care practitioners from cleaning their hands, El-Masri
said.
The study also showed that workers were more likely to wash their hands
after coming into contact with a patient than before, and that
compliance was greater for high-risk procedures than for low-risk ones.
While the study was conducted at a hospital in the U.S., compliance
rates in Ontario are still surprisingly low.