Date of Conferral

2017

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Health Services

Advisor

Marilyn S. Murphy

Abstract

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that there are approximately 1.4 million cases of hospital acquired infections (HAIs) at any given time worldwide. Recent reports indicate that 722,000 patients acquire HAIs, with 75,000 or more succumbing to the infections and dying. This quality improvement project focused on the value of re-educating practicing nurses on hand hygiene practices as an approach to reduce the incidence of HAIs. Pre-intervention rates of HAIs were compared with post-intervention rates of HAIs across 2 units (Unit A and Unit B) in an acute care setting to determine if re-educating nurses about hand hygiene was a plausible strategy in reducing HAIs in the acute care setting. The pre-intervention mean rate of Unit A was 0.146% and the post-mean rate was 0.00%. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed that the educational intervention did not elicit a statistically significant change in infection rates (z = -1.63, p > 0.05). Similarly, the pre-intervention mean rate of Unit B was 0.12% and the post-mean rate was 0.00%. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed that the educational intervention did not elicit a statistically significant change in infection rates (z = 1.732, p > 0.05). Despite the lack of statistical significance, there was a reduction in the mean rate to 0.00% following the educational intervention. The results of this quality improvement project suggest a value in re-educating nurses on the importance of hand hygiene as a strategy to reduce and prevent HAIs in health care organizations in order to promote positive patient outcomes.

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