Hand Hygiene Before Non-sterile Glove Use

University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Hand Hygiene

Treatments: Behavioral: Hand Hygiene before Donning Non-sterile Gloves

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01571778

HP-00051378

Details and patient eligibility

About

The importance of healthcare worker hand hygiene in decreasing bacterial transmission between patients is well documented. Healthcare workers may don non-sterile gloves in routine care of patients, particularly for those patients known or suspected to harbor epidemiologically important microorganisms. Governing bodies currently recommend performing hand hygiene prior to donning gloves and after glove removal. The importance of hand hygiene post glove removal is well shown, however few studies exist to show utility of hand hygiene prior to donning gloves. In fact, data suggests that glove use is an impediment to hand hygiene and may reduce compliance with hand washing. In light of this and the fact that no evidence exists that washing hands BEFORE glove use is important, the aim of the study is to asses the utility of routine hand hygiene prior to donning non-sterile gloves before a patient contact.

Enrollment: 230 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Healthcare worker engaging in direct patient contact on Contact Precautions (e.g. expected glove use)
• >= 18 years of age

Exclusion criteria

• Visibly soiled hands requiring hand washing (cannot randomize)
• Non-compliance with glove use as indicated for care of patient on Contact Precautions

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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230 participants in 2 patient groups

Donning Gloves without Hand Hygiene

Experimental group

Description:

In this arm, healthcare workers will be assigned to don non-sterile gloves prior to patient contact WITHOUT first performing hand hygiene. Samples will be obtained from hands prior to donning gloves and from the gloves after donning to determine total aerobic colony counts and to identify important hospital pathogens

Treatment:

Behavioral: Hand Hygiene before Donning Non-sterile Gloves

Hand Hygiene before donning Non-Sterile Gloves

No Intervention group

Description:

In this arm, healthcare workers will be assigned to first perform hand hygiene before donning non-sterile gloves prior to patient contact (This is usual,expected practice). Samples will be obtained from hands prior to donning gloves and from the gloves after donning to determine total aerobic colony counts and to identify important hospital pathogens