Hand Hygiene Compliance – A Key Component of Neonatal Care

Infections account for 25% of the 2.8 million neonatal deaths worldwide every year [1]. Moreover, there is significant rise in healthcare associated infections (HAI) especially among neonates. Hand hygiene, sepsis care bundles and antibiotic stewardship are important strategies for reducing HAI. Hand hygiene has proven to be the single most effective intervention to halt the spread of HAI, when combined with other critical measures. Hand hygiene compliance (HHC) is a key performance indicator for programmes related to infection prevention and control and also for patient safety and quality of health services [2]. Though being a simple intervention, hand hygiene is often suboptimal in many healthcare facilities. In a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) setting, poor HHC by healthcare workers (HCW) can have serious impact on the outcome of neonates. Hence, appropriate measures should be in place to improve HHC among HCW, including surveillance, audits and ongoing Quality Improvement (QI) initiatives. …