Literature Review

Literature ReviewNameInstitutionInstructorCourseDate Literature ReviewIntroductionDifferent research articles have been developed to support the Capstone project. This involves compliance with hand washing measures which has been indicated to improve patient safety by decreasing healthcare-associated infections during the time of hospitalization (Sickbert-Bennett et al., 2016). Non-compliance with hand washing measures has led to poor health outcomes in healthcare facilities affecting the achievement of healthcare goals. This is because non-compliance increases the risk of spreading disease-causing germs to admitted patients negatively affecting their health outcome (Bittner et al., 2017). The articles reviewed covered different aspects of the PICOT statement with some of them indicating the reasons for non-compliance while others providing strategies to motivate healthcare practitioners to comply with hand washing measures. A Comparison of Research QuestionsThe selected research articles aim at addressing different research questions related to compliance with hand washing measures as a way of reducing health-related infections. The first article by Bittner, Routh, Folchert, Woessner, Kennedy, and Parks (2017) aims at determining whether educating patients and families is a feasible way of increasing the rate of compliance with hand washing measures. Chavai, Menon, and Shukla (2014) examines the use of the multimodal technique to improve hand hygiene compliance among health workers which supports the Capstone project. The third article by Iqbal, Zaman, and Azam (2018) is aimed at determining the knowledge and perception of healthcare workers about hand hygiene which is meant to provide information to healthcare stakeholders in the implementation of hand washing measures. Another article that supports the Capstone project is “Hand hygiene practices among nurses in a health facility in a semi urban setting” by Lawal, Monsudi, Zubayr, Michael, Duru, Ibrahim, and Aliyu (2018). This article analyzes the importance of nurses in providing patient care by identifying some of the health hazards which may affect patients and how nurses can be helpful in addressing these hazards. The fifth article by Longuenesse, Lepelletier, Dessomme, Le Hir, & Bernier (2018) provides information on how hand dermatitis may affect healthcare practitioners in complying with hand washing measures. Oliveira and Pinto (2018) investigates the perception and attitude of healthcare workers regarding the participation of patients in hand hygiene. The seventh article by Zhao, Yang, Huang, and Chen (2018) addresses the question of how to make hand hygiene more attractive to nurses which is aimed at providing more knowledge to improve compliance with hand washing measures. The last article supporting the Capstone project is “Reduction of healthcare-associated infections by exceeding high compliance with hand hygiene practices” by Sickbert-Bennett, DiBiase, Willis, Wolak, Weber, & Rutala (2016). This article investigates how compliance with hand washing measures positively contributes to improved health outcomes.A Comparison of Sample PopulationsThe articles used different sample populations to conduct their research which provides a diverse view and understanding of the Capstone project. Bittner et al (2017) used random patients who had been admitted at the Omaha Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. The second article by Chavali, Menon, and Shukla (2014) was conducted in the surgical ICU where hand hygiene is strictly observed. Iqba, Zaman, and Azam (2018) used doctors and healthcare staff at a tertiary healthcare military facility who were 196 in number. Lawal et al (2018) used 113 nurses who largely participate in providing patient care to admitted patients in healthcare facilities. Research on the effect of hand dermatitis on hand hygiene by Longuenesse et al (2018) was conducted on healthcare workers in the Nantes University Hospital. Oliveira and Pinto (2018) conducted their research using 150 healthcare practitioners from a university hospital in Brazil which can be used to get the different perception from diverse healthcare workers across the world. Zhao et al (2018) focused on nurses working at Taiwanese tertiary care facilities who were selected through stratified sampling. The last research article reviewed supporting the Capstone project is “Reduction of healthcare-associated infections by exceeding high compliance with hand hygiene practices” by Sickbert et al (2016). This study was conducted in an 853-bed healthcare facility for 17 months. A Comparison of the Limitations of the StudyThe research article by Chavali, Menon, and Shukla (2014) was time consuming since a single observer was responsible for recording all possible opportunities for a period of 10 days with a period of 12 hours each time. All observations were 1500 which took a lot of time affecting the validity of the collected results. This method did not also allow continuous monitoring to provide satisfactory results. The research study by Bittner et al (2017) used the SLUMS examination in assessing the mental status of patients which is not a widely used method affecting the reliability of the study. Iqbal, Zaman, and Azam (2018) research study was conducted on one institute limiting the generalizability of the study. The research study by Lawal etal (2018) had the challenge of some of the respondents declining to participate in the study affecting the reliability of the study since this specific population was not represented. The research study by Longuenesse et al (2018) was time consuming with over two thousand questionnaires being distributed to health workers in the Nantes University hospital. Oliveira and Pinto (2018) research study was conducted in a single institution where there was a shortage of specific scientific literature involving the patient participation in adherence to hand hygiene at the time of the research. Sickbert et al (2016) research study had a challenge of using the proposed hand hygiene compliance measurements requiring the researchers to simplify the compliance measurement to only evaluate the opportunities defined by the World Health Organization. The research study by Zhao et al (2018) had the limitation of having a limited sample population. This includes using the choices of nurses working in Taiwan hospitals which may not represent nurses in other healthcare facilities.ConclusionThese research studies have supported the Capstone project in different aspects with information on some of the concerns related to compliance with hand washing measures being addressed (Sickbert-Bennett et al., 2016). Some of the articles provide explanation on the low rate of compliance with hand washing measures while others provide strategies to use in encouraging healthcare practitioners to comply with hand washing measures (Oliveira & Pinto, 2018). This is important in providing adequate information to healthcare stakeholders who play an important role in ensuring that healthcare practitioners comply with hand washing measures. Due to the limitations affecting each research study, further research can be conducted to provide more support to these articles as well as the Capstone project. This will help in addressing some of the concerns raised by certain studies in addressing specific research questions (Iqbal, Zaman, & Azam, 2018). ReferencesBittner, M. J., Routh, J. M., Folchert, M. D., Woessner, N. E., Kennedy, S. J., & Parks, C. C. (2017). Hand hygiene among health care workers: Is educating patients and families a feasible way to increase rates? WMJ: Official Publication of the State Medical Society of Wisconsin, 116(2), 79–83.Chavali, S., Menon, V., & Shukla, U. (2014). Hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers in an accredited tertiary care hospital. Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine: Peer-reviewed, Official Publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine, 18(10), 689-693.Iqbal, M., Zaman, M., & Azam, N. (2018). Knowledge and perception of hand hygiene among health care workers of a tertiary care military hospital: A descriptive study. Pakistan Armed Forces Medical Journal, 68(5), 1372–1377.Lawal, T., Monsudi, K., Zubayr, B., Michael, G., Duru, C., Ibrahim, Z., & Aliyu, I. (2018). Hand hygiene practices among nurses in a health facility in a semi-urban setting. International Journal of Health & Allied Sciences, 7(3), 191–195.Longuenesse, C., Lepelletier, D., Dessomme, B., Le Hir, F., & Bernier, C. (2017). Hand dermatitis: Hand hygiene consequences among healthcare workers. Contact Dermatitis, 77(5), 330–331.Oliveira, A. C., & Pinto, S. A. (2018). Patient participation in hand hygiene among health professionals. RevistaBrasileira De Enfermagem, 71(2), 259–264.Sickbert-Bennett, E. E., DiBiase, L. M., Willis, T. M. S., Wolak, E. S., Weber, D. J., & Rutala, W. A. (2016). Reduction of healthcare-associated infections by exceeding high compliance with hand hygiene practices. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 22(9), 1628–1630.Zhao, Q., Yang, M. M., Huang, Y.-Y., & Chen, W. (2018). How to make hand hygiene interventions more attractive to nurses: A discrete choice experiment. PLoS ONE, 13(8), 1–11.