Background:

Every year millions of patients around the world are affected by a nosocomial infection as a consequence of poor hygiene among the caregiving staff. These infections may lead to death, thus the elderly and people with weakened immune systems are at a greater risk. By training all caregivers in proper hygiene and the ways in which infections spread, these cross infections can be avoided.

Aim:

The aim of this study was to describe the nurses' experiences of hygiene work. Method: A literature based study was conducted on nine scientific articles extracted from the database CINAHL. These were read, reviewed and analyzed by the authors.

Results:

Four themes became apparent; the experience that knowledge matters, the experience that rolemodels matters, the experience that workplace enviroment matters and the experience of a will to protect oneself.

Conclusion:

The nurses experienced several reasons for compliance to hygiene including; good role models, easy access to disinfectants, knowledge about hygiene and how infections spread.