Hand hygiene barriers and facilitators in Vietnam

Background/Aim The applicability of the globally-accepted hand hygiene guidelines in Vietnam is questionable due to vast differences in available resources and unique contextual challenges. Hand hygiene compliance barriers in Vietnam therefore need to be identified to assist in adapting guidelines and developing hand hygiene programs that are appropriate for the healthcare settings in Vietnam that are different to middle to high resourced healthcare setting. Methods This mixed methods research is presented as a series of published peer-reviewed journal articles. Collectively, the publications describe quantitative and qualitative data that examine barriers encountered with hand hygiene compliance within healthcare settings in Vietnam, specifically addressing infrastructure, program implementation, overcrowded conditions and healthcare worker (HCW) perceptions and beliefs. Findings HCWs perform hand hygiene with unpredictable water quality counteracting its benefits by failing to remove pathogens from hands. This instills doubt in HCWs about the importance and efficacy of hand hygiene requirements. Resource limitations are amplified by overcrowded hospital conditions. These conditions interrupt the ability of HCWs to visually delineate the central tenant of the World Health Organisation ‘My five moments for hand hygiene’, patient and healthcare zones, to accurately perform hand hygiene audits according to the World Health Organisation approach. To alleviate this critical barrier the original ‘My five moments’ concept has been adapted for the overcrowded setting in resource-limited healthcare systems. The central focus of hand hygiene for every HCW is to uphold a ‘duty-of-care’ to prevent the transmission of infection to patients. The adaption of the original ‘My five moments’ may improve HCW personal responsibility to hand hygiene within these difficult circumstances, therefore strengthening patient safety. Conclusion Identifying and examining hand hygiene barriers and facilitators is critical for resource-limited and overcrowded settings so that appropriate adaptation of international guidelines, IPC programs and interventions can be made to suit varying contextual needs. Additionally, a systematic systemic duty of care to patient safety must be introduced through education programs to achieve the ultimate goal - provision of safer patient care.

Grantor dc:publisher

UNSW, Sydney

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Salmon, Sharon

• Five moments
• Hand hygiene
• Resource limited countries
• Vietnam

Statement dc:rights

• open access
• CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
• free_to_read

Licence

• https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
• https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/

Language dc:language

EN

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/18762

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/55560