”Tvätta händerna” : Hinder för en god handhygien

Sammanfattning: Low hand hygiene compliance among health staff is a problem globally in health care settings. Improving hand hygiene could prevent many of the health care associated infections that affects hundreds of millions of patients every year around the globe. The aim of this literature study was to describe obstacles to maintain proper hand hygiene in hospitals, seen from a global perspective. Eight articles from seven countries, all based on qualitative research have been analysed according to Friberg's five-step method that contributes to evidence-based nursing. The challenges to sustain hand hygiene found in the results were split into two main categories: Organizational factors and Individual factors. Organizational factors included five subcategories: Work environment, Inadequate education, Infrastructure, Insufficient management and Power structures. The results showed that when these factors were negatively affected so was compliance regarding proper hand hygiene. These were often issuesthat the health staff felt powerless to change and affect. Individual factors included two subcategories: Attitudes and social factors. Example of this could be healthcare workers neglected hygiene guidelines out of personal reasons or healthcare workers giving care to patients that didn’t accept how it was carried out because of social and cultural differences. The complex issues revolving these matters need to be addressed on an overall perspective. Cooperation between management and health staff is fundamental to obtain changes within healthcare organizations. Both parties need to work together to be able to improve hand hygiene compliance and to reduce healthcare associated infections.