Introduction:

Correct hand hygiene at the right moment and in an appropriate manner may mark the difference between saving a life or not.

Objective:

Evaluate adherence to hand hygiene among health workers.

Methods:

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted of health workers from Frank País International Scientific Orthopedic Complex during 2019. Adherence was measured by direct observation of the health personnel while performing their ordinary healthcare tasks.

Results:

A total 200 observations were made, of which 33.0% corresponded to doctors, 34.5% to graduated nurses and 33.0% to health technicians. The hand hygiene adherence rate was 60.0%. Graduated nurses washed their hands in 69.6% of the occasions, doctors in 66.7% and health technicians in 20.5%. Health technicians were the group that most often skipped handwashing. The three personnel categories skipped handwashing most frequently at three important moments: before carrying out an aseptic task, after risk of exposure to body fluids and after contact with patients.

Conclusions:

Graduated nurses comply with handwashing measures more often than doctors and health technicians. The hand hygiene adherence rate is below the standard set by the program implemented by the Cuban Ministry of Public Health.

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