Abouzelof, Rouett Harden, MSN
UNIVERSITY OF UTAH COLLEGE OF NURSING,1999
HEALTH SCIENCES, NURSING (0569); HEALTH SCIENCES, HEALTH CARE MANAGEMENT
The problem of low compliance to handwashing guidelines in a 520-bed community
hospital was studied
within the framework of the theory, Diffusion of Innovations. This theory maintains
that any idea
perceived as new to an individual is termed innovation and the spread of the
innovation is termed
diffusion. Within this theory is the innovation-decision process of which there
are five stages:
knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation. Results of
a questionnaire
designed to describe the stages of the innovation-decision process for handwashing
and alcohol hand
rubs showed significantly lower perceptions of adoption for alcohol hand rubs
than handwashing. In
addition, when comparing units, the acute care unit had significantly lower
perceptions of all stages for
alcohol hand rubs. All other correlations showed weak relationships with the
exception that participants
currently enrolled in college had a higher perception of the implementation
stage for alcohol hand rubs.
Social
Systems Simulation Group
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