Nurse Lit Review Type of Research Study

Nurse Lit Review

TYPE OF RESEARCH STUDY - Quantitative or qualitative

Descriptive, correlational, experimental, quasi-experimental, phenomenological, grounded theory ethnographic, historical

SAMPLE METHOD & SAMPLE SIZE

Knoll, Lautenschlager & Lipp (2009). British Journal of Nursing.

Impact of workload on hygiene practices.

Quantitative.

Experimental.

trials of nursing staff.

Statistical.

Enforcing hygiene practices has practical healing benefits for nurses.

Souweine, B. et al. (2009). Intensive Care Medical Journal.

Compared hygiene practices. Hand rubbing vs. hand washing.

Quantitative.

Experimental.

person nursing staff.

Workers completed self report questionnaires.

Hand rubbing with alcohol is preferred to handwashing in some instances.

Creedon, S. (2006). International Journal of Nursing Technologies and Classifications.

Observe health worker compliance in handwashing guidelines.

Quantitative.

Quasi-experimental.

73 doctors and nurses in an Irish ICU.

Questionnaire responses.

Knowledge of handwashing guidelines can lead to positive outcomes.

Allen, L. et al. (2014). Nevada RNformation.

Compared hand washing with hand sanitizer.

Quantitative.

Descriptive.

Literature review.

Statistical.

Hand washing was prescribed for killing certain bacteria.

Evans & Breshears, (2007).

How hand washing affects chiropractic practices.

Quantitative.

Correlation.

150 students randomly selected took survey

Survey results.

Reasonable control measures regarding hand washing need to be implemented in chiropractic teaching organizations.

Narrative

The issue of hygiene seems outdated in many ways as antiseptics and antibiotics are seemingly everywhere. The ability to keep things clean in any medical environment creates the likelihood of success of healing that much more. The literature reviewed in this exercise demonstrates the many avenues of approach in learning more about hygiene and hand washing as an effective and practical technique that can demonstrate a significant ability to increase the ability for nurses to assist in the healing process and become a more integral part of the healing process. This review will demonstrate the need and presence of hand washing routines placed at health center location.

Knoll et al. (2009) revealed that empirical experimentation involving nurses applying hand washing techniques can significantly impact the ways that medical health care units can improve their practices. They wrote " the distinct and significant loss of nursing staff compliance with hand hygiene guidelines as a result of workload and a lack of qualified nursing staff, is a sure sign of insufficient organization of procedures." (p.223). This literature reflects the need for nurses to be reminded of the importance of such efforts and reveals the difficulties of implementing new routines in to old methods of performance.

The issue of hand hygiene and hand washing becomes more complicated and sophisticated when looking at the finer details of the practice. The literature examined in this exercise suggests that method or way that hands are sanitized may have an impact on the performance of medical organizations and their ability to contribute to the healing process of their patients.

Both Souweine et al. (2009) and Allen et al. (2014) introduced the ideas of hand rubbing with alcohol as a preferable means to killing unwanted bacteria in the medical procedures nurses practiced in these evaluations. Souweiene et al. (2009) concluded that "this large multi-centric study in an ICU setting showed that the availability of alcohol-based solutions for hand disinfection is associated with better skin tolerance and increased compliance with hand hygiene in some cases. For these reasons, hand rubbing with alcohol-based solutions should be preferred to hand washing for the control of MRSA cross transmissions in intensive care units." (p.23).

The literature as a collective body suggests that there is conflicting evidence as to the clinical efficiency of hand washing in these types of environments. Sanitation and hygiene efforts may be best accepted and implemented through a variety of ways, and the empirical evidence that supports this is present in the aforementioned discussion.

Hand washing appears to be a simple and easy idea to grasp for those within the medical professions but this also suggests the root of many problems. The need for leadership and constant emphasis on such practices seem evident in all examples that measured such efforts within clinical settings. In all selected works, the theme of constant worker reinforcement is mentioned to help maintain any efforts regardless if they focused on hand washing or hand rubbing with alcohol, demonstrating how the need for education and practice are preliminary in aspects of this investigation.