title: Poor hospital infection control practice in hand hygiene, glove utilization, and usage of tourniquets.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hospital-acquired infection often occurs because of lapses in accepted standards of practice on the part of health care personnel. The aim of this study is to attract attention on poor hospital infection control practice in venepuncture and use of tourniquets and emphasize the importance of hand hygiene.
  
  
  METHODS
  Overall compliance with hygiene during usage of tourniquets and routine patient care before and after implementation of a hospital infection control measures was evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  According to the questionnaire, only 26.9% of respondents always washed their hands both before and after venepuncture. In the second step of the study, based on direct observation, hands were washed both before and after venepuncture on only 41 (45.1%) occasions. Failure to remove gloves after patient contact was observed on 23.1% occasions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our survey reveals poor infection control practice in hand hygiene, glove utilization, and usage of tourniquets and the implementation of infection control measures produced a moderate improvement in compliance with them.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Pamukkale University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Infectious Diseases, Turkey. suzansacar@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Suzan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sacar
authors.forename: Huseyin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Turgut
authors.forename: Ilknur
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kaleli
authors.forename: Nural
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cevahir
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Asan
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sacar
authors.forename: Koray
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tekin
mesh_terms: D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D050456:Fomites / Q000382:microbiology*; D017575:Gloves, Protective / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006235:Hand Disinfection / Q000592:standards*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D018962:Phlebotomy / Q000009:adverse effects; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014111:Tourniquets / Q000382:microbiology*; D014421:Turkey