A survey of nurses and junior doctors at one Dublin hospital has found just one in five of them "decontaminated" their hands before making contact with patients. Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent, reports.
The findings of the research, which was carried out at Beaumont Hospital in an attempt to identify practices among healthcare workers that may contributed to a high incidence of MRSA, was presented at a conference in Dublin yesterday.
The study was carried out among 1,511 nurses and non-consultant hospital doctors. They were surveyed by questionnaire and also had their practices observed by infection-control nurses.
Hospital consultants were not included in the study.
Apart from the finding in relation to staff not washing their hands before touching patients, the study also found almost 40 per cent of staff questioned were unable to identify correctly the colour code used to alert people to high-risk patients when an infection risk was identified.
Furthermore it found only 27 per cent of those surveyed washed their hands and then used an alcohol rub or antimicrobial handwash after contact with patients known to have MRSA.
The research was carried out just over a year ago.
MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) is an antibiotic-resistant superbug that can prove fatal if it gets into a patient's bloodstream.
Up to 330 patients acquired the MRSA superbug in Beaumont Hospital in 2004 and the hospital finished at the bottom of the recent national hygiene audit.
While some 76 per cent of healthcare workers studied at the hospital used personal protective equipment, such as disposable plastic aprons and disposable gloves before entering a room where patients were in isolation, only 41 per cent disposed of this gear appropriately afterwards.
The authors of the study, which included infection-control nurse Tony Thomas, reported that there was "a real need" to enhance awareness on basic infection control practices as well as responsibility for their actions among healthcare workers
"A significant attitudinal and behavioural change has to take place. Employers should ensure mandatory induction and staff participation in refresher programmes".
A spokesman for Beaumont said yesterday he was aware of the study. He said it was undertaken a year ago and the hospital had taken on board the points raised.
"We currently have a strategic plan for hygiene in advance of the next national hygiene audit," he said.
The findings of the study were revealed at the 25th International Nursing and Midwifery Research Conference at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
A separate study looked at the characteristics of 200 elderly patients who had fallen while inpatients at Dublin's St James's Hospital between January 2004 and June 2005.
Some 18 per cent of them (a total of 36 patients) sustained injuries as a result of their fall. Five of the patients sustained fractures. The remainder of the injuries included abrasions, lacerations and bruises.