Washing Haas, Janet P. And Essay

Naturally, any problem that results in 1.7 instances of illness and 100,000 preventable deaths is automatically extremely clinically significant. What makes this topic especially clinically significant is that nosocomial infections are largely a function of behaviors that violate established principles of standard hygiene and antisepsis in clinical settings. If the information can be used to publicize the importance of reducing hospital acquired infections and to increase healthcare worker compliance with antiseptic protocols, it could greatly improve the safety and quality of the American healthcare system.

Primary Barriers to Hand Washing Compliance

The main barriers reported in connection with the low rate of hand washing compliance in U.S. hospitals include ignorance, laziness, habit, and convenience. Ignorance comes into play when healthcare providers fail to consider how vulnerable hospitalized patients are to infection and how easily bacterial infections can be caused by hand-to-hand or hand-to surface contamination.Laziness is an issue because hand washing is very repetitive and time consuming.

Habit refers to the routine practices that develop in work settings including hospitals and other medical care facilities. In the typical hospital setting, healthcare workers often become complacent about fundamental concepts such as antisepsis simply because of the repetitive nature of many work routines. Finally, hand washing is inconvenient because it takes time and also because it can result in chronic skin conditions. For that reason, contemporary American hospitals have greatly increased their use of alcohol-based gels….....