Monitoring
Various fundamental aspects must be considered in order to assess the hygiene of a community and credibility of resources being applied as well as the overall achievements. A monitoring program would allow the practitioners to identify problems, eliminate apparent issues, and protect their well-being. The implementation of a reliable setup to implement such solutions as education and training is an effective approach to encourage hand washing (Bruce, 2009). However, the implementation is one stage of a satisfactory process. In a bid to ensure that the methods are followed properly for a long period of time, it is prudent to create a monitoring program. Such a program would ensure that the objectives and goals of each day are met. In addition, the practice will measure the integration of information and knowledge in the hospital staff. The effectiveness of the implemented training solutions can be evaluated and changed according to their performance. The monitoring can be performed by assigning roles to the manager of the nurses and training program. The management should observe and confirm that every nurse has attended the training program. This strategy can be viable by requesting the educator to issue unique cards to the nurses who attend the lessons. These cards must be submitted to the managers in order to confirm that a nurse has attended the lesson. Furthermore, the management can initiate fines to the nurses who fail to attend the lessons of critical importance. In fact, the nurses who ignore the attendances completely can be directed for further studies in the consulted training organization. They may be suspended until they attain certification for the hygiene course.
Evaluation
An evaluation can be conducted by observing the practitioners throughout the hospital using CCTV cameras. Essentially, this practice is easy and allows several people to follow and identify the activities being conducted by the nurses (Trochim & Donnelly, 2010). The cameras can be placed at various stations created for washing hands in order to record the frequencies in which hands are washed. This data will be used as an approval that the training program will have an effect on the population being involved. The cameras will be installed before the training program commences. The records of individual practitioners washing hands can be recorded for 2 weeks. The daily visits of nurses can then be averaged in order to attain the number of daily handwashing activities within the hospital. This recording will be compared by another data collection during the training program as well as after completing the program. If there are increased rates of nurses visiting the taps after the training, the effectiveness of the training can be deemed viable. However, the strategy will identify that the solution is not reliable if the rate of handwashing reduces or remains constant. The monitoring program will have the mandate to propose changes in the training depending on the achievements and research suggestions. For instance, the trainer may be changed or advised to apply different strategies to encourage the trainee in washing hands.
Another approach to monitoring the integration of hand hygiene practices will involve providing questionnaires to the patients when leaving the hospital. This aspect will assess such aspects as wearing new gloves and cleaning hands when attending to patients. The patients will relay information about the negligence of nurses or their keenness when operating on them to prevent super-infections. The data will be analyzed and used to direct new precautions or stress on policies regarding healthcare hygiene.
Outcome Measure
Objective Achievement
Essentially, the evaluation of the solution will allow the collection of data that can depict the outcomes of the solutions implemented. Data analysis will be conducted to expose an argument regarding the credibility of the solutions. The determination of the outcomes will be based on the reactions impacted by the setup of the solution (Shank, 2006). If there are improvements noted in respect to the training, then the goals regarding the washing of hands are viable. The evaluation will be handled through several stages of analysis. First, the practitioners will receive a test to assess the integration of the training. The nurses who pass the test by 90% will confirm that the training program was effective to them by such an excellent level. Therefore, a high average mark for all the nurses will determine the effectiveness of the program. On the other hand, CCTV investigations can be used to gather data for the impact of the training. In this respect, the outcomes of the projects will be assessed directly by checking improvements in the nurses’ behaviors. An improvement in the activities regarding hygiene will depict the achievement of the goals. Finally, the outcomes can be measured by studying the patterns of patient infections. Currently, there are many cases of infection retrieved from the hospital. These infections can be caused by the direct transfer of microbial pathogens from one patient to the other through practitioners. In this respect, the investigation and tracks of a patient’s history and future diseases can identify if the goals were attained. The number of patients affected by new infections after visiting a hospital should reduce in order to show positive outcomes. The measures have been presented in appendix 1.
The credibility of the Outcome Measure
The measure of outcomes by using CCTV is the most practical, valid, and reliable strategy. The method allows the investigators to assess the behaviors of nurses remotely. After considering all the ethical issues associated with the installation of a CCTV camera, there are no problems accessing the information required. For instance, the records do not have to be monitored on a real-time basis. Instead, the records are stored on daily basis and kept for future assessment. During the evaluation of such data, the video footage can be fast-forwarded to determine the cases of nurses washing their hands (Chan & Danao, 2010). In perspective, the cameras will also act as evidence for professional negligence where the individual nurses will be sucked if found to ignore important working procedures. This aspect implies that the nurses will pay attention to hygiene practices to prevent inconveniences.
The direct testing program will be a reliable tactic. It will provide a direct answer to the understanding of hygiene basics from the nurses. However, theories do not depict the direct application of all aspects taught. This attribute implies that the practitioners may pass the theories and lack the motivation to practice hand hygiene. Since it is a cheap strategy for the investigations, this method cannot be ruled out as it can inform about the understanding of the training.
Evaluation Data Collection
Methods of Collecting Outcome Measure Data
The process will begin by installing cameras in all areas with taps without inflicting privacy rights. The camera will be assessed through wireless networks in a control room and backed up through a server. The cases of nurses washing hands will be counted daily for 2 weeks before the training and repeated after the course. This data will be analyzed later to check improvements by comparing the 2 data sets. On the testing measure, the training program will provide a 40 minutes exam. This exam will comprise 30 questions assessing the understanding of nurses on the reasons and ways of ensuring hand hygiene.
Resources Needed
There are cameras and a workforce required for the installation. These will be accompanied by the computers and drives for storage and evaluation. Furthermore, there will be people to evaluate the records and maintain the program at all times. The training will be conducted by one instructor who will direct the printing of 100 copies of test papers.
Feasibility of the Evaluation Plan
The evaluation will not incur an unreasonable cost or inflict personal rights as well as organizational policies. In this regard, the methods will be able to correct data for use in the study without major complications. Furthermore, the organization will support the process of evaluation since they understand its vitality. This plan is expected to reduce cases of infection, deaths, and funds used to treat super-infections. It is not complex to understand and identify the proposed changes in the system. Therefore, there are high chances that the hospital management will understand it application and importance in order to start the process stringently and curb the associated problems.
References
Bruce, C. (2009). Disasters and Public Health. Amsterdam; Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann/Elsevier.
Chan, S., & Danao, L. (2010). Are nurses prepared to curb the tobacco epidemic in China? A questionnaire survey of schools of nursing. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 45(5), 706-713.
Shank, G. (2006). Qualitative research: A personal skills approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
Trochim, W., & Donnelly, J. (2010). The research methods knowledge base. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.