A multifaceted approach to improve hand hygiene practices in the adult intensive care unit of a tertiary-care center

A multidisciplinary team was formed to improve hand hygiene (HH) practices in a tertiary-care ICU. At baseline, an audit revealed that the overall HH compliance was 64% and was significantly lower at night than during the day shift. After implementing a stepwise multifaceted approach that included education, workplace reminders, active feedback and later universal contact precautions, the HH compliance improved significantly to >80%, and the improvement was sustained over several months. This improvement was noted during the day and night and affected different healthcare workers as well as visitors. (C) 2014 King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.