Hand hygiene characteristics of staff in medical institutions during the epidemic period of coronavirus disease 2019: a Meta-analysis

Abstract:

Objective To analyze the characteristics of hand hygiene (HH) compliance of staff in medical institutions (MIs) during the epidemic period of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and put forward evidence-based intervention policies for improving HH compliance. Methods Relevant literatures on HH compliance of staff in MIs during the epidemic period of COVID-19 were retrieved from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data, VIP and China Biology Medicine disc (CBMdisc) in January 2020-October 2021, two researchers independently screened the literature, extracted data and evaluated the quality, Meta-analysis was conducted with DerSimonian and Laird models. Results A total of 10 literatures on HH compliance involving 2 377 staff in MIs were included in this study. The overall HH compliance during the COVID-19 epidemic period was 74% (95%CI: 68%-79%). Subgroup analysis results showed HH compliance rates of staff of different professions in hospitals from high to low were nurses, doctors and other employees, which were 80% (95%CI: 74%-87%), 76% (95%CI: 71%-81%) and 70% (95%CI: 62%-77%) respectively. Staff in MIs had the highest HH compliance (91%, 95%CI: 88%-94%) after contact with patient body fluid, while the lowest HH compliance (68%, 95%CI: 62%-74%) before contact with patient. Conclusion During the epidemic period of COVID-19, HH compliance of staff in MIs has been greatly improved. Auxiliary personnel are the key personnel to improve HH compliance, before contacting patients is the key moment of HH compliance intervention.

Key words:hand hygiene;compliance;infection control;coronavirus disease 2019;healthcare-associated infection;Meta-analysis