Introduction. Despite continuing efforts, compliance rates and knowledge of best practices in hand hygiene remain disappointing. Recognizing that conventional educational tools seem out of touch with young people and that the medium and the message content need refreshing, the Italian Study Group of Hospital Hygiene (GISIO) of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (SITI) devised a novel approach to promote the creation of innovative educational tools for improving knowledge of and compliance with hand hygiene rules among healthcare and medical students. Methods. A contest in creating educational material on hand hygiene practices involved students on university nursing, medical, and other healthcare degree courses. Students from universities in the GISIO network were invited to create educational material (e.g., videos, posters, presentations, leaflets, and screensavers) to be presented by May 5th (World Hand Hygiene Day / Save Lives: Clean Your Hands Global Annual Initiative of the World Health Organization [WHO]). A local and a national winner were awarded. Results. In the past three years more than 270 educational tools have been developed: 130 (48%) were judged useful for hand hygiene promotion campaigns. The projects most often entered in the contests were videos (39%), posters (29%), leaflets (14%), and others (18%) submitted by more than 1500 students on nursing (40%), medical (31%), dentistry (7%), and other healthcare degree courses in 14 universities. Conclusions: The contest provided a framework for the creation of innovative and potentially effective educational tools via an engaging approach that leveraged student creativity. Given the need to improve compliance rates, this study suggests that new ways can be advantageously explored to teach hand hygiene procedures and increase awareness of the importance of their consistent use among healthcare and medical students.
The Clean Care Contest: promoting hand hygiene among healthcare and medical students / Piscitelli, A.; Agodi, A.; Agozzino, E.; Arrigoni, C.; Barchitta, M.; Brusaferro, S.; Castaldi, S.; Castiglia, P.; Cozzi, L.; D’Errico, M. M.; De Caro, F.; De Giglio, O.; Iannazzo, S.; Laganà, P.; Laurenti, P.; Mascipinto, S.; Montagna, M. T.; Mura, I.; Pasquarella, I.; Veronesi, L.; Rossi, F.; Ripabelli, G.; Rossini, A.; Scippa, F.; Sodano, L.; Squeri, R.; Staniscia, T.; Torregrossa, V.; Auxilia, F.. - In: ANNALI DI IGIENE MEDICINA PREVENTIVA E DI COMUNITÀ. - ISSN 1120-9135. - ELETTRONICO. - 32:5(2020), pp. 462-471. [10.7416/ai.2020.2370]
The Clean Care Contest: promoting hand hygiene among healthcare and medical students
M. M. D’Errico;
2020-01-01
Abstract
Introduction. Despite continuing efforts, compliance rates and knowledge of best practices in hand hygiene remain disappointing. Recognizing that conventional educational tools seem out of touch with young people and that the medium and the message content need refreshing, the Italian Study Group of Hospital Hygiene (GISIO) of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (SITI) devised a novel approach to promote the creation of innovative educational tools for improving knowledge of and compliance with hand hygiene rules among healthcare and medical students. Methods. A contest in creating educational material on hand hygiene practices involved students on university nursing, medical, and other healthcare degree courses. Students from universities in the GISIO network were invited to create educational material (e.g., videos, posters, presentations, leaflets, and screensavers) to be presented by May 5th (World Hand Hygiene Day / Save Lives: Clean Your Hands Global Annual Initiative of the World Health Organization [WHO]). A local and a national winner were awarded. Results. In the past three years more than 270 educational tools have been developed: 130 (48%) were judged useful for hand hygiene promotion campaigns. The projects most often entered in the contests were videos (39%), posters (29%), leaflets (14%), and others (18%) submitted by more than 1500 students on nursing (40%), medical (31%), dentistry (7%), and other healthcare degree courses in 14 universities. Conclusions: The contest provided a framework for the creation of innovative and potentially effective educational tools via an engaging approach that leveraged student creativity. Given the need to improve compliance rates, this study suggests that new ways can be advantageously explored to teach hand hygiene procedures and increase awareness of the importance of their consistent use among healthcare and medical students.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
