Assessing the incorporation of the 'Five Moments for Hand Hygiene' into nursing procedure textbooks.

Aim: Our aim was to conduct a thorough comparison between the hand hygiene information included in international nursing textbooks and the Slovenian nursing textbook's equivalent content as it relates to nursing procedures.

Background: Hand hygiene practices are crucial in preventing healthcare-associated infections, which affect millions of patients annually. The idea behind "Five Moments for Hand Hygiene" is to encourage assessing success and boosting self-efficacy.

Design: Comparison of hand hygiene content in international nursing textbooks with the content in a Slovenian nursing textbook.

Methods: A study was conducted between March 2023 and March 2024 to compare hand hygiene content in international nursing textbooks. The study included textbooks from the USA and UK, as well as Slovenian (SI) textbooks. The final phase involved comparing hand hygiene performance practices against the WHO Five Moments for Hand Hygiene.

Results: The study reviewed 470 nursing procedures across three textbooks, identifying four common ones: female indwelling urinary catheterisation, small-bore feeding tube insertion, enema administration and subcutaneous injections. The USA textbook had the highest number of steps, while the UK textbook had the lowest. Clean protective gloves are not recommended for all nursing procedures, only for small-bore feeding tube insertion and enema administration. The US textbook omitted 12 steps for the female indwelling urinary catheter procedure, while the UK textbook included 10 steps. The SI textbook omitted 8 steps.

Conclusions: Hand hygiene is crucial for healthcare infections prevention and control. The study found differences in the frequency of hand hygiene in these nursing procedures. WHO's Five Moments for Hand Hygiene guidelines are not universally accepted, with inadequate hygiene often observed before patient contact. Future research should review foreign textbooks and update existing ones.