A recent study suggests that healthcare workers wash their hands less as the workday progresses because the mental reserves they need to follow rules are depleted, according to an article on the Infection Control Today website.
New research published by the American Psychological Association found that hand-washing compliance rates dropped by an average of 8.7 percentage points from the beginning to the end of a typical 12-hour shift. The decline in compliance was magnified by increased work intensity.
"Just as the repeated exercise of muscles leads to physical fatigue, repeated use of executive resources (cognitive resources that allow people to control their behaviors, desires and emotions) produces a decline in an individual's self-regulatory capacity," the researchers wrote.
The study also found that workers followed hand-washing protocol more carefully after longer breaks.
On the Lookout: The Software Supply Chain as a Healthcare Cyberattack Vector
Hackensack Meridian Health & Wellness Center at Clifton Opens
Suffolk Breaks Ground on Expansion of White Plains Hospital
EVS Leadership Culture Critical in Preventing Hospital-Acquired Sepsis
Man Dies by Suicide in Emergency Department Waiting Room at Kansas Hospital