Research Discussion

Introduction

The article of interest for the discussion is the study by Kingston, O’Connell, & Dunne (2016) whereby the researchers conducted a systematic review of hand hygiene -related clinical trials reported since 2010. The researchers employed a qualitative research design for the realization of the objectives of the study, with the specific method used being a systematic review of past studies on the subject of interest. In regards to the scope of the study, the researchers focus on studies published between December of 2009 and February of 2014. They searched PubMed and CINAHL with some of the keywords used being hand hygiene, compliance, and handwashing. The researchers also included empirical studies conducted in settings that comprised of acute, non-acute, and long-term care of the elderly, studies that had samples from both developing and developed countries, and ones published in the English language. The research identified 57 articles for the review, but only used 16 of them since they were the ones deemed eligible.

One of the significant findings of the study was that compliance research on hygiene was of global interest, with most studies done in the US and Europe. The researchers also found that most reviews were in a variety of clinical settings, with some being across multiple settings, and across various geographical locations. Another finding made by the researchers in the study was that hand hygiene opportunities recorded were 719,876 ranging from ICU and two-steps down the ICU unit. The study also found that the compliance interventions for hand hygiene were mostly multimodal, whereby they focused on more than one hand hygiene intervention. The researchers did not declare any conflict of interest to the study conducted nor did they state any source of funding. They concluded that particular areas of additional research concerning the subject include attitude and awareness of future practitioners.