When a comparison was made between the compliance rates of my organization with other institutions, the hospital I work for had moderate compliance with the hand wash regulations as compared to other healthcare institutions. A comparison of comparison between institutions identified variation in the level of agreement across different departments in the same institution. Assessment of compliance was done concerning the guidelines set by the World Health Organization and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Challenge, 2009). The instructions include washing hands with the use of soap and water once they were dirty and also cleaning the hands with other alcohol-based disinfectants in other circumstances (Challenge, 2009).
There are various financial implications associated with compliance with the regulations. The failure to comply with the hand washing regulations increases the risk of transmitting microorganism through the hands of the nurses. It is identified to be the primary cause of cross-infection in hospitals increasing the risk of hospital-acquired infections (Challenge, 2009). These infections are viewed to inflict a substantial financial burden on the individual's patients and the health institutions. They have also been identified by research to be the primary cause of death in the hospitals. Since the hands of the nurses and other healthcare practitioners act as vectors to transmit microorganism between patients, adhering to the handwashing regulations, enable the organization to cut on costs associated with managing the hospital-acquired infections (Salama et al. 2013). Also, the various antibiotics prescribed to the patients to help in improving the recovery process were identified to be more effective when there was a high level of compliance with the hand wash regulations.
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The cost of compliance with the provision regarding the value of the soap and other detergents and the water bills is cheaper when compared with the expenses associated with managing the hospital-acquired infections (Salama et al. 2013). Individuals also save on costs when there is high compliance with the regulations through the reduction in the number of visits to the physicians and the length of hospital stays (Salama et al. 2013). The adherence to the policies and regulations on hand washing will reduce the liability of the company when it comes to hospital-acquired infections. The failure, on the other hand, will make the institution liable, and as a result, will over the financial burden and other forms of liabilities resulting from the hospital-associated illnesses (Stone et al. 2007).
Health organizations can adopt various strategies to improve the compliance with the hand washing regulations. These strategies include creating awareness among the healthcare workers on the need to ensure total compliance. Through the campaign, the nurses will be aware of the benefits of such compliance and the consequences of low compliance (Stone et al. 2007). Another approach is through developing policies that increase the individual liability of the nurses when identified to be accountable for hospital acquires the infection by failing to adhere to the hand washing regulations (Challenge, 2009). Practitioners will more likely comply with the set rules to avoid incurring such liability resulting in quality improvement.
The nurses and the policymakers in the organization will be mainly affected by the change to compliance measure since any shift in policy require the authorization of the latter and to increase the liability of the former (Bischoff et al. 2000). Barriers to the implementation of the changes include limitation of tools, funds and time to evaluate the progress of the changes and their impact on the workers. The lack of screening of the practitioners to assess the cross-transmission also present a significant challenge (Bischoff et al. 2000). The barrier to conducting prolonged evaluation can be handled by integrating the strategy into the organization’s programs. The institution can adopt a regular training programs to educate employees on the need for compliance. A random cross-transmission assessment program can also be taken by the organ to facilitate regular assessment.
References
Bischoff, W. E., Reynolds, T. M., Sessler, C. N., Edmond, M. B., & Wenzel, R. P. (2000). Handwashing compliance by health care workers: the impact of introducing an accessible, alcohol-based hand antiseptic. Archives of internal medicine, 160 (7), 1017- 1021.
Challenge, F. G. P. S. (2009). WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care: a Summary. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Stone, P. W., Hasan, S., Quiros, D., & Larson, E. L. (2007). Effect of guideline implementation on costs of hand hygiene. Nursing economic$, 25 (5), 279.
Salama, M. F., Jamal, W. Y., Al Mousa, H., Al-AbdulGhani, K. A., & Rotimi, V. O. (2013). The effect of hand hygiene compliance on hospital-acquired infections in an ICU setting in a Kuwaiti teaching hospital. Journal of infection and public health, 6 (1), 27-34.
