Change of Hand Floor During the Shift in Emergency Servise Staff

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to reveal if there will be any change in hand flora and pathogen microorganism before and after shift of emergency service staff in order to determine the infection risc to the patients who admit to our emergency department. Materials and methods: Our study was planned to evaluate the change of the hand floor and pre-shift and post-shift hand cultures from 10 physicians, 13 nurses, 10 transport personnel in the emergency department of Cumhuriyet University. Also the micro-organisms of air samples from special intervention areas (resuscitation, red area) as well as general use areas were analyzed. Results: We compared the washing status between pre (4,%11.1) post-contact16 (44.4%) hand washing rate was significantly higher (p <0.05). there wasn’t any difference between the microorganisms samples that were reproduced on the pre-shift right and left hand samples and post-shift right and left hand. According to the total count of samples taken from the left and right hand before shift in terms of the microorganism seen the difference was significiant (t=7,48; p=0,001). Conclusions: Although our participants knew the hand hygiene indications of emergency service workers, their harmony was found to be low, consistent with many studies in the literature. It has been observed that the habit of using gloves and hand disinfectant was low also. Efficient strategies may be developed; improving institutional healthcare conditions, conducting educations at certain intervals, observing the practitioner and collecting feedback. However, it should be noted that the most significant issue is that the significance in hand washing is ensured with changes in habits. Key Words: Hand Hygiene, hospital-acquired infection control, hand washing, health workers, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus.