Missing Moments in O&G
Erica Short1,2, Julia Carey3, Jo Tallon3, Christine Sommerville1, Biny Mathews1, Tanya Nippita11Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, NSW, Australia 2Australasian College of Infection Prevention and Control, Hobart, Tas, Australia 3Northern Sydney Local Health District, St Leonards, NSW, Australia
Background
Hand Hygiene compliance within the Birthing Unit (BU) at a tertiary facility has been an ongoing concern due to consistently poor hand hygiene practices. Medical practitioners have demonstrated consistently low compliance with the five moments for hand hygiene. Medical practitioners hand hygiene compliance ranged from 45% in Audit Period (AP) 3 2021, to 63% in AP 1 2022.
Method/Aims
The Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) team in consultation with the Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) Head of Department, set out to provide an intensive education program for medical practitioners. This included senior medical staff undergoing auditor training, implementation of “Moment Monday” and regular education sessions with rotating medical officers through the department (i.e., every 10 weeks). The aim was to increase hand hygiene compliance from 45% to 80% for medical practitioners including the BU. Medical engagement was key for driving change.
Results
The IPAC team has provided six focus sessions to the BU medical practitioners and trained eight medical practitioners to become hand hygiene auditors. Compliance with hand hygiene increased to 81.7%. Based on feedback, education provided to all junior medical staff across the organisation has been reviewed and changed to include clinical scenarios.
Conclusion
Engagement from O&G Senior Medical Practitioners was essential to drive hand hygiene cultural change amongst medical practitioners in the BU. Through a collaborative approach with IPAC and BU, medical practitioners have a clear understanding of when hand hygiene is required to be completed and when a moment is to be audited.
Biography
Erica holds a Clinical Nurse Consultant position at Royal North Shore Hospital with over 10 years in the field of IPC. She is currently an ACIPC Board Director, a credentialed ICP-E and holds a Masters in Infection Prevention and Control.
Erica believes that the key to raising the profile of infection prevention and control is the balance between current evidence, clinical needs, and the task at hand to ensure practical application for all involved.