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A quasi-experimental study to determine the effects of a multifaceted educational intervention on hand hygiene compliance in a radiography unit

Overview of attention for article published in Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control, October 2016
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (84th percentile)
  • Average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source

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1 news outlet
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Citations

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13 Dimensions

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Title
A quasi-experimental study to determine the effects of a multifaceted educational intervention on hand hygiene compliance in a radiography unit
Published in
Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control, October 2016
DOI 10.1186/s13756-016-0133-4
Pubmed ID
Authors

Margaret O’Donoghue, Suk-Hing Ng, Lorna KP Suen, Maureen Boost

Abstract

Whilst numerous studies have investigated nurses' compliance with hand hygiene and use of alcohol-based hand rub (ABHR), limited attention has been paid to these issues in allied health staff. Reports have linked infections to breaches in infection control in the radiography unit (RU). With advances in medical imaging, a higher proportion of patients come into contact with RU staff increasing the need for good hand hygiene compliance. This study aimed to evaluate effectiveness on compliance of an intervention to improve awareness of hand hygiene in the RU of a district hospital. A quasi-experimental study design including questionnaires assessing knowledge and attitudes of hand hygiene and direct observation of participants was used to evaluate an educational programme on hand hygiene of the RU of a large district hospital. All healthcare workers (HCW), comprising 76 radiographers, 17 nurses, and nine healthcare assistants (HCA), agreed to participate in the study. Of these, 85 completed the initial and 76 the post-test anonymous questionnaire. The hand hygiene compliance of all 102 HCW was observed over a 3-week period prior to and after the intervention. The 2-month intervention consisted of talks on hand hygiene and benefits of ABHR, provision of visual aids, wall-mounted ABHR dispensers, and personal bottles of ABHR. Before the intervention, overall hand hygiene compliance was low (28.9 %). Post-intervention, compliance with hand hygiene increased to 51.4 %. This improvement was significant for radiographers and HCA. Additionally, knowledge and attitudes improved in particular, understanding that ABHR can largely replace handwashing and there is a need to perform hand hygiene after environmental contact. The increased use of ABHR allowed HCW to feel they had enough time to perform hand hygiene. The educational intervention led to increased awareness of hand hygiene opportunities and better acceptance of ABHR use. The reduced time needed to perform hand rubbing and improved access to dispensers resulted in fewer missed opportunities. Although radiographers and other allied HCW make frequent contact with patients, these may be mistakenly construed as irrelevant with respect to healthcare associated infections. Stronger emphasis on hand hygiene compliance of these staff may help reduce infection risk.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 4 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 83 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 83 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 14 17%
Student > Bachelor 12 14%
Other 8 10%
Researcher 8 10%
Student > Postgraduate 5 6%
Other 11 13%
Unknown 25 30%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Nursing and Health Professions 21 25%
Medicine and Dentistry 18 22%
Business, Management and Accounting 2 2%
Computer Science 2 2%
Psychology 2 2%
Other 11 13%
Unknown 27 33%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 11. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 04 November 2016.
All research outputs
#2,986,461
of 24,003,070 outputs
Outputs from Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control
#394
of 1,347 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#50,454
of 319,730 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control
#11
of 22 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,003,070 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 87th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,347 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 15.6. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 70% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 319,730 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 84% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 22 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 50% of its contemporaries.