Handwashing: A Vital Tool for Infection Control in Healthcare - Essay Sample

Hand washing is essential for infection control since it is the single most vital process that is executed in healthcare facilities to help in the prevention of the spread of infection to the health workers and patients.

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Research Questions/Objectives

What are handwashing/hygiene practices among healthcare providers and patients that help in infection control, and how well have they been advocated to ensure that these stakeholders have the right information and skills to execute them?

What are the available resources for handwashing/hygiene in healthcare facilities such as; alcohol-based sanitizers, hand washes basins, hand towels, cleaning soap, and elbow tap?

What are the attitudes of healthcare workers towards hand washing and hygiene practices and what barriers do they face; social, cognitive, structural, and organizational, to hand hygiene practices.

Justification (Rationale) of the Research Topic

Management and prevention of infection is the responsibility of all the staff members who work at a health facility as well as the patients as it is a vital component of patient safety programs. The process of infection control and prevention is a procedure that involves the development and implementation of safe, evidence-based practices that are aimed at the improvement of the quality of healthcare and is said to be part of the quality assurance measures (Owusu-Ofori et al., 2010). The success of this approach is achieved through the implementation of infection prevention and control measures through educating the patients, healthcare workers, and visitors on the practices and principles of infection prevention and control.

Effective handwashing has been a single vital process that is significant in preventing and controlling these infections (Setati, 2019). However, studies show that hand hygiene compliance among patients and healthcare providers is low, notwithstanding the increasing efforts that are aimed at the reduction of infections. Hand hygiene through appropriate handwashing practices is vital in the prevention of pathogen transmission hence reducing diseases caused by these organisms (Sunley, Gallagher, Reidy & Dunn, 2018). There has been commendable progress in infection prevention and control due to the publication of infection control and prevention manuals that have outlined the basic principles of hand hygiene and the global use of evidence-based infection prevention practices. These practices reduce the risk of infection transmission among patients, visitors, nurses, doctors, laboratory personnel, and housekeeping and cleaning staff. Therefore, effective infection prevention and control practices such as hand hygiene are needed to identify efficiently, monitor, prevent, and control infections in healthcare facilities (Owusu-Ofori et al., 2010). This can be done through educating patients, visitors, and healthcare staff on the best handwashing practices, ensuring that the resources needed for hand hygiene are available, and instilling the appropriate attitudes of handwashing in the involved parties as well as addressing any barriers to hand hygiene.

Justification of the Research Paradigm and the Research Strategy

This study will involve the use of a quantitative, cross-sectional study by the administration of questionnaires in the collection of data from the participants. The questionnaires will have three sections that include; the practices on handwashing, the attitudes of health workers on hand hygiene, and the socio-demographic profile (Kazi & Khalid, 2012). For the section of the attitudes of the health care workers, the three-point Likert scale will be utilized. The sampling will be done for the healthcare workers in a stratified manner. Questionnaires will be administered to those individuals who meet the inclusion criteria. Questionnaires will be chosen as the best data collection mechanism since they are quick, cheap, and can collect enormous data from a vast population. The data will be collected quickly since the researcher will not need to be physically present when the questionnaires are being completed.

This research strategy will be appropriate in collecting data and information on infection control through hand washing and hand hygiene since questionnaires will be useful in determining attitudes, behaviors, intentions, opinions, and preferences more cheaply and quickly (Kazi & Khalid, 2012). The questionnaires to be used will contain both closed and open-ended questions. Data will be collected through a self-administered questionnaire written in English. The data obtained will be analyzed through the use of SPSS software version 24.0. Various descriptive mechanisms will be employed in the analysis of means, correlations, and frequencies. The cross-tabulation between associations and variables will be analyzed by the use of chi-squared with a significant level at p<=0.05.

Research Methods

Description and Justification of the Sampling Procedure and Sample Size

This section discusses and justifies the sampling procedure and the size of the sample on the study of handwashing for infection control. A stratified randomized method of population sampling will be used in the selection of suitable participants. The random sample that has been stratified will involve dividing the population into distinctive subdivisions. The selection of health workers to be involved in the study will be made in accordance with the size of each stratum. A sample size of 200 health care workers will be selected from different units who qualifies for the inclusion criteria. The other members of the staff will be part of this population, but the size of the nurses will be large since they are the ones who are in the direct care of the patients and play a significant role in infection control through hand hygiene. The sampling will be done in such a way that the majority of the chosen participants are those healthcare workers who are in direct contact with the majority of the patients, and their hand hygiene practices can either perpetuate or reduce the transmission of infections. A randomly picked stratified sample of 200 individuals from different categories of health workers will be recruited. This sample size of 200 people will be selected based on a 95% confidence interval level with only a 5% error margin. Then a 10% will be added for catering for the drop-outs and non-responses.

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria and Explanation of the Decisions

Inclusion Criteria

The inclusion criteria will involve the inclusion of all the healthcare personnel who work in health facilities and are willing to be included in the study. This criterion is suitable since healthcare workers at a facility are in direct contact with the patients; hence their handwashing practices will either elevate or reduce infections.

Exclusion Criteria

The exclusion criteria will include all the healthcare personnel who are not involved in direct contact with patients and those not mandated to take care of the patients. This is because those who are not in contact with the patient do not pose a direct risk of infecting them.

Information Obtained from Participants and Obtaining Consent

The information to be obtained from the participants include; their handwashing practices, attitude, and the availability of resources needed for the promotion of infection prevention and control trough handwashing. The consent will be obtained from the participants before the administration of the questionnaire.

Data Collection and Analysis

Data will be collected through a self-administered questionnaire written in English. The data obtained will be analyzed through the use of SPSS software version 24.0. Various descriptive mechanisms will be employed in the analysis of means, correlations, and frequencies. The cross-tabulation between associations and variables will be analyzed by the use of chi-squared with a significant level at p<=0.05.

Ethical Considerations

Ethical approval will be obtained from the university, hospital, and health service before the commencement of the process of data collection. Permission will also be sought from the ministry of the health committee. Various ethical issues might arise (Pietilä, Nurmi, Halkoaho & Kyngäs, 2020). During this study, there will be minimal risks to the participants. The questionnaire will be designed in a way that does not allow participants to leave their details hence ensuring total anonymity. Informed consent will be obtained from all those that will be participating in the study before the start of the process. The participants need to sign the consent form to show that they agree to take part in the research hence meaning that they know exactly what is required of them and the questions that they are to be asked. Therefore, this will show that participation in the study is optional and that they cannot take part in the research. For those individuals who will not have completed the form and return it, the necessary steps will be taken that ensure follow-up.

The participants of this study will have the freedom to decide what to do to respect individual autonomy. Even after signing the consent form, the participants will be made to know that they can opt-out of the study at their free will without having to give any reasons or explanations. The data will be anonymous by omitting the names of those participating in the research process (Pietilä et al., 2020). Confidentiality will be attained through the protection of the collected data and the coding of the questionnaires. To ensure that justice prevails during the study, all those participants that meet the inclusion criteria will be accorded a fair and equal chance to participate.

Dissemination

The findings and the results of the study on the role of handwashing and hygiene in infection control will be compiled and put in nursing publications. The journals to be considered for the dissemination of the findings of this research include; Evidence-Based Nursing Journal, Journal of Research in Nursing, and Journal of Nursing Education. The choice of these specific journals is because they have a wide range of audiences both in the nursing profession as well as other fields; hence the intended information will reach a broad audience from different areas, especially those in healthcare. The other reason for disseminating the findings of this research in the above journals is because they are credible and have peer-reviewed articles; hence the information that will be provided will be deemed correct, updated, and reliable. The other strategy that will be appropriate in communicating the findings of this research include; presentations at local and national nursing conferences, written clinical summary statements, and presentations at hospital committee meetings.

References

Kazi, A. M., & Khalid, W. (2012). Questionnaire designing and validation. Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 62(5), 514. Retrieved from: https://ecommons.aku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1013&context=pakistan_fhs_mc_women_childhealth_paediatr

Owusu-Ofori, A., Jennings, R., Burgess, J., Prasad, P. A., Acheampong, F., & Coffin, S. E. (2010). Assessing hand hygiene resources and practices at a large African teaching hospital. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 31(8), 802-808. Retrieved from: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/infection-control-and-hospital-epidemiology/article/assessing-hand-hygiene-resources-and-practices-at-a-large-african-teaching-hospital/F0CACC68355396878137BD042C98A2CB

Pietilä, A. M., Nurmi, S. M., Halkoaho, A., & Kyngäs, H. (2020). Qualitative Research: Ethical Conside...