Hand Hygiene, Clinical Protocols and Evidence-Based Practice

The current work policy at The University of New Mexico (UNM) institutes Hand Hygiene as an active clinical procedure in the guidelines for employment and general practice (University of New Mexico, 2014). The procedure of hand hygiene is an exercise that decreases the transmission of nosocomial infections to patients, hygiene related infections, and illness in UNMH employees (UNM, 2014). This research paper serves to reinforce the pre-existing policy used by UNM Hospitals, and supports the current guidelines regarding hand hygiene practice with evidence-based research found in three peer-reviewed articles. The goal of this research paper is to further stabilize the current UNM Hospital’s hand hygiene policy using evidence-based practice research from three corresponding studies in the same category of hand hygiene. Hand Hygiene, Clinical Protocols and Evidence-Based Practice

Literature Review
Hand hygiene in Kapil, Bhavsar and Madan’s (2015) article summary, is recognized for being the most effective intervention for control of hospital acquired infections. The article provides data from a clinical study testing the effectiveness of proper hand hygiene using hand sanitizer. Bucher, Donovan, McCoy, and Ohman-Strickland (2015) conducted a study on several Emergency Medical Services (EMS) companies throughout the United States by volunteer surveys regarding the hand hygiene of EMS providers between patient contacts. Bissett (2010) posits that studies regarding healthcare provider skin care sounds awkward, and proper hand hygiene is expressed using the same resources found UNM’s policy including evidence-based practice from the World Health Organization (WHO). Hand Hygiene, Clinical Protocols and Evidence-Based Practice