Regresar

The microbial load and hand washing of the emergency department staff in the “hospital de especialidades josé carrasco arteaga”

Abstract:

Introduction: Several studies show that hand washing compliance in health professionals range between 15% and 50% of the time in which it should be carried out and 8.7% of hospitalized patients get nosocomial infections. Therefore, the objective of this report was to study the behavior of hand washing and to determine the microbial load in the hands of health personnel working in the emergency department of the Hospital de Especialidades José Carrasco Arteaga, Ecuador Material and Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out in 60 professionals from the health area: attending physicians, residents, medical interns, graduates, interns and nursing assistants. They were selected by stratified random sampling in which the technique of clinical hands washing was interrogated and the microbial load in hands was quantified. Results: Out of the 60 subjects evaluated, the nursing assistants had the highest average of microbial load with 545 (30-2300) CFU/g, followed by the medical/nursing intern with 335 (60-785) CFU/g. 100% of the graduated nurses presented a hand wash before and after each procedure, being lower in treating physicians (40%) and nursing assistants (40%). Conclusions: The average of CFU/g was similar to previous studies with auxiliary nursing staff having the highest microbial load, as well as a lower percentage of hand washing, being very variable among the different professionals; therefore, this activity should be actively promoted in all health centers.