The rate of compliance with hand hygiene rules among professionals in healthcare units reached 80% in 2023, according to the General Directorate of Health (DGS).
This percentage is similar to 2022, but represents an increasing trend since 2015 (73.1%) when Portuguese health authorities launched awareness-raising actions, says a note from DGS, on the occasion of World Hand Hygiene Day, which is celebrates this Sunday, in an initiative integrated into the DGS’s Infection Prevention and Control and Antimicrobial Resistance Program (PPCIRA).
“In 2020, with the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a significant increase in compliance with hand hygiene (82.6%), reducing insignificantly between 2021-2022”, says the DGS.
On the other hand, “since 2009, the number of health units adhering to hand hygiene monitoring has significantly increased”, going from 98 on that date to 181 in 2023.
The authorities reinforce the importance of complying with hand hygiene “before contact with the patient, before clean or ascetic procedures, after risk of exposure to biological fluids, after contact with the patient and after contact with the patient’s environment”.
“From the analysis of the data, it can also be seen that the perception by health professionals remains that in situations where gloves are used when providing care, hand hygiene is not necessary”, which is an “incorrect procedure” , which enhances the transmission of microorganisms, warn the authorities.
Estimates indicate that by 2050 mortality from healthcare-associated infections and related to antibiotic resistance will be equal to mortality from cancer.
Tags: healthcare professionals complied hand hygiene rules Health
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