Hand hygiene compliance among health care workers in pediatric oncology ward of a tertiary care hospital: A cross sectional observational study

Background Hand hygiene compliance was incorporated in the Global Patient Safety Challenge initiative by WHO with the goal of reducing the burden of Health care Associated Infections (HAIs), however, compliance rates among healthcare workers remain low. Methods All possible opportunities for Hand Hygiene were recorded for 15 days in a cross sectional study among healthcare workers in a 10-bedded Pediatric Oncology Ward. The observations were noted for all five moments of Hand hygiene by WHO. Each moment was counted as one opportunity. Results Hand Hygiene compliance rates of 53.4%, 42.5% and 32.6% were observed for nurses, doctors and other HCWs respectively. 100% and 26.4% compliance rates were observed for moments 3 and 5 respectively. Nurses had the best compliance in all five moments of hand hygiene. Conclusions Infection trends can vary with hand hygiene indicators. Hand hygiene monitoring is the key intervention in prevention of spread of multi-drug resistant organisms in health care settings.