Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

Published in

MDPI, Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, 11(8), p. 486, 2023

DOI: 10.3390/tropicalmed8110486

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Hand Hygiene Practices and Promotion in Public Hospitals in Western Sierra Leone: Changes Following Operational Research in 2021

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Hand hygiene is the most important intervention for preventing healthcare-associated infections and can reduce preventable morbidity and mortality. We described the changes in hand hygiene practices and promotion in 13 public hospitals (six secondary and seven tertiary) in the Western Area of Sierra Leone following the implementation of recommendations from an operational research study. This was a “before and after” observational study involving two routine cross-sectional assessments using the WHO hand hygiene self-assessment framework (HHSAF) tool. The overall mean HHSAF score changed from 273 in May 2021 to 278 in April 2023; it decreased from 278 to 250 for secondary hospitals but increased from 263 to 303 for tertiary hospitals. The overall mean HHSAF score and that of the tertiary hospitals remained at the “intermediate” level, while secondary hospitals declined from “intermediate” to “basic” level. The mean score increased for the “system change” and “institutional safety climate” domains, decreased for “training and education” and “reminders in the workplace” domains, and remained the same for the “evaluation and feedback” domain. Limited resources for hand hygiene promotion, lack of budgetary support, and formalized patient engagement programs are the persistent gaps that should be addressed to improve hand hygiene practices and promotion.