Objective: To estimate the impact of educational intervention on hand washing and gloves use.
Material and methods: The educational intervention consisted of a one-hour weekly workshop aimed at doctors and nurses, with a previous questionnaire on hand-washing, a presentation talk on three key points (hand washing, use of gloves, alcohol-based solutions). Adherence to hand washing and use of gloves was re-evaluated 6-9 months after the intervention.
Results: We conducted 34 workshops for 296 health care workers, 239 (80.4%) women and 57 (19.6%) men, with an average age of 40.1 years (range, 18-62 years). Most were nurses (41.2%), nursing assistants (37.8%) and physicians (8.2%). Compliance to hand washing ranged between 29% and 87%. The gloves were used in maneuvers not indicated (19% before giving meals and a 27.7% when performing an ECG). Compliance with hand washing 6-9 months after the workshop improved significantly (p < 0.05) in three of the 5 items. The use of gloves was not significantly different. The intensity of the intervention was inversely related to the incidence of nosocomial infections (RR for every 100 workers intervened in the previous month = 0.89; 95% CI, 0.789-1.003; p = 0.057).
Conclusions: The training workshops had a positive impact on hand washing compliance, but there was no significant change in the use of gloves. The introduction of education has an inverse relationship to the incidence of nosocomial infections.