Hand hygiene and microbes with fake nails vs polished nails.

Hand hygiene and microbes with fake nails versus polished nails Student: Professor: Course title: Date: Hand hygiene and microbes with fake nails versus polished nails PICO Question In Operating Room nurses doing a five minute scrub (P), does natural polished nails and nail beds (I) in comparison to artificial nails (C) harbour less microbes and pathogens (O)? The proposed practical change is for healthcare workers to wear natural polished fingernails rather than artificial fingernails in healthcare settings. Appraisal of literature that address the problem In her article, Rothrock (2012) talks about the present guidelines with regard to wearing fake nails and nail polish in healthcare settings. This author noted that according to the recommendations made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, healthcare workers (HCW) are not allowed to wear artificial fingernails or extenders whenever they have direct contact with any patient who is considered to be at high risk; that is, patients in operating rooms, transplant units, or intensive care units. This recommendation is highly recommended for execution and is highly supported by properly-design epidemiological, clinical and experimental studies (Rothrock, 2012). McNeil et al. (2011) in their study cultured nail surfaces and subungual nail areas of 5 fingers of forty-one volunteer HCWs. The sample comprised twenty HCWs with natural polished nails and twenty-one HCWs wearing fake nails. The cultures were taken prior to and following the use of alcohol-based gel or antimicrobial soap. The findings demonstrated that substantially more HCWs with fake fingernails than HCWs with natural fingernails had microbes remaining after cleaning their hands and fingers with gel or soap (McNeil et al., 2011). The findings show that artificial nails may contribute to transmission of microbes and HCWs should avoid using them. In another study by Gupta et al. (2004), the researchers investigated the outbreak of an infection in a neonatal intensive care unit. Their findings revealed that exposure to HCWs who wore artificial nails were linked to colonization or infection with clone A, the pathogen that caused the infections. Consequently, the hospital implemented a hospit...