ETHICS, PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY, AND THE NURSING PRACTICE OF CARE IN HAND HYGIENE: A CRITICAL REFLECTION
Keywords:
Hand hygiene, nursing care ethics, care-associated infections, Patient safetyAbstract
Introduction: the most basic practice, and one of the most important for the prevention of healthcare-associatedinfections (HAI) in the field of health, is hand hygiene. From an ethical perspective, it is an expression of care in nursing.However, compliance is a persistent problem in Latin America, structural and cultural barriers remain. Objective: Toreflect on hand hygiene from the perspective of ethics and professional care, analyzing recent scientific evidence and itsimplication in patient safety and nursing practice. Development: A review of scientific literature, institutional documentsof the WHO, PAHO, and IMSS, contemporary research on adherence, education, and multimodal approaches. Thefindings show that patient adherence to hand hygiene considerably improved the decrease in the rate of HAI, but itssustainability is due to a more comprehensive understanding of the ethics of care and a strengthened culture of care in theinstitution. The core of professional ethics is: hand hygiene is an act of moral responsibility, compassion, and a tribute tolife. This change in culture can come from nurses, through education, participatory surveillance, adoption of daily habits.Conclusions: hand hygiene transcends as a purely moral act that reflects the professional conscience; Promotingcompliance involves integrating ethics, science and human sensitivity to ensure safer and more humanized clinicalenvironments.
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