Compliance of hand washing practices: Theory versus practice

Abstract

Hand washing remains an important preventative method for making thetransmission of nosocomial infections redundant. Despite awareness by health workersof the practices required and of the legislation governing hand washing, the studyreported here found that compliance to these procedures was quite poor. The resultsof two surveys distributed to health workers and direct observation by clinical staffin an aged care hospital found that 45percent of health workers did not wash their handsand 24 percent did not change their gloves between patient consultation. Methods forincreasing effective hand washing in clinical settings must be identified if hygienicpractice is to be improved.