385880

Hand hygiene as a part of infection control at haemodialysis unit

Article

Last updated: 09 Mar 2025

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Abstract

Healthcare-associated infections represent a major risk to patient safety. Among haemodialysis (HD) patients, the first cause of hospitalization is infection. Similar to dialysis staff, HD patients are vulnerable to healthcare-associated infections owing to their prolonged and frequent exposures to many possible contaminants in the dialysis environment. The most important predisposing factors in this case include the extracorporeal nature of the therapy, the associated common environmental conditions, and the immune compromised status of HD patients. HD patients are exposed to different types of infections including bloodstream infections and blood-borne infections with hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and/or human immunodeficiency virus, localized infections of the vascular access, and airborne infections. Sources of infections include infected patients in addition to contaminated environmental surfaces, equipment, and water. Out of the proven increased potential for transmission of infections in HD settings, specific and stricter infection prevention and control measures were created and implemented and this was in addition to the usual standard precautions. One of the most common modes of transmission of healthcare-associated infections is the contaminated hands of healthcare workers. Hand hygiene is identified as the most important infection prevention intervention. Interventions to improve compliance with hand hygiene include providing enough sinks with soap dispensers, paper towels, hand lotions and alcohol-based hand rub placed at each patient station, continuous education and monitoring, along with regular feedback of surveillance results. Education and training and full awareness of infection control policies and procedures should be provided to all healthcare workers and should be repeated regularly.

DOI

10.21608/niles.2024.320759.1098

Keywords

Hemodialysis, Hand hygiene, Infection control

Authors

First Name

Lamiaa

Last Name

Abdel Rahman

MiddleName

Ahmed Abdel Rahim

Affiliation

Department of public health, Faculty of medicine, Sohag University

Email

lomyabdelrahman@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Fouad

Last Name

Yousef

MiddleName

Metry Atia

Affiliation

Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Sohag university, Egypt

Email

fouad3s@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

EMAN

Last Name

Mohamed

MiddleName

Roshdy

Affiliation

Public health and community medicine

Email

roshdyeman@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

8

Article Issue

2

Related Issue

51687

Issue Date

2025-03-01

Receive Date

2024-09-18

Publish Date

2025-04-01

Page Start

174

Page End

182

Print ISSN

2636-3224

Online ISSN

2636-3232

Link

https://niles.journals.ekb.eg/article_385880.html

Detail API

http://journals.ekb.eg?_action=service&article_code=385880

Order

3

Type

Original Article

Type Code

695

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

NILES journal for Geriatric and Gerontology

Publication Link

https://niles.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Hand hygiene as a part of infection control at haemodialysis unit

Details

Type

Article

Created At

09 Mar 2025