Hand Hygiene Compliance and Bacterial Colonization on Personal Belongings (HHC-BC)

August 20, 2026 updated by: Yeliz Sapulu Alakan, Uludag University

The Relationship Between Intensive Care Nurses' Hand Hygiene Compliance and Competence and Bacterial Colonization on Their Personal Belongings

This study aims to examine whether intensive care nurses' hand hygiene practices are related to the presence and amount of bacteria on their frequently used personal belongings, such as mobile phones, pens, and identification badges. Intensive care units are high-risk environments for infections because patients are often critically ill and require invasive medical procedures. Nurses have an important role in preventing the spread of infections through appropriate hand hygiene. In this study, nurses' self-reported hand hygiene compliance will be assessed, and samples will be collected from their personal belongings to identify bacterial contamination. The amount and types of bacteria found on these belongings will be examined. The study will determine whether nurses with different levels of hand hygiene compliance have differences in bacterial contamination of their personal belongings. The findings may contribute to improving infection prevention practices and developing targeted hygiene education for intensive care nurses.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

57

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The study population will consist of nurses working in the intensive care units of the participating hospitals. Eligible participants will be nurses who provide direct patient care, agree to participate in the study, provide written informed consent, and regularly use a mobile phone, pen, and identification badge during their clinical work. Nurses who are absent during the data collection period, have hand wounds or injuries that interfere with standard hand hygiene practices, do not participate directly in patient care, or are unable to complete the study procedures will be excluded.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Nurses who agree to participate in the study and provide written informed consent.
  • Nurses working in the intensive care units of the participating hospitals.
  • Nurses who regularly bring and actively use a mobile phone, pen, and identification badge during clinical work.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Nurses who do not agree to participate in the study or do not provide written informed consent.
  • Nurses who are absent from the intensive care unit during the data collection period due to annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave, or educational activities outside the hospital.
  • Nurses with an open wound or injury on their hands that prevents them from appropriately performing standard hand hygiene practices, including handwashing and use of hand disinfectant.
  • Nurses who do not participate directly in patient care, including administrative nurses, charge nurses who are not involved in clinical practice, and infection control nurses responsible for unit-level infection control.
  • Participants who do not completely complete the questionnaire or have circumstances that prevent adherence to aseptic procedures during microbiological sampling.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intensive Care Nurses

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Assessment Tool to Measure Hand Hygiene Compliance and Competency in Health Care Services
Time Frame: Day 1 (baseline)
Hand hygiene compliance and competency will be assessed using the Assessment Tool to Measure Hand Hygiene Compliance and Competency in Health Care Services developed by Caner et al. The tool consists of 39 Likert-type items.
Day 1 (baseline)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Bacterial Colonization on Personal Belongings Measured by Microbiological Culture
Time Frame: Day 1 (baseline)
Day 1 (baseline)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Uludag University

Collaborators

Igdir University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 30, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 17, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 20, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

August 24, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 24, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 20, 2026

Last Verified

August 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Hand Hygiene

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Individual participant data will not be shared with other researchers because of ethical, privacy, and confidentiality considerations. Only aggregated and de-identified study results will be reported.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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