Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL QUALITY
Volume 24, Issue 3, Pages 205-213Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/1062860609332369
Keywords
hand hygiene compliance; hand hygiene measurement; patient empowerment; health care worker feedback; product volume measurement
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Hand hygiene (HH) is the single most important factor in the prevention of health care-acquired infections. The 3 most frequently reported methods of measuring HH compliance are: (1) direct observation, (2) self-reporting by health care workers (HCWs), and (3) indirect calculation based on HH product usage. This article presents the results of a 12-month multicenter collaboration assessing HH compliance rates at US health care facilities by measuring product usage and providing feedback about HH compliance. Our results show that HH compliance at baseline was 26% for intensive care units (ICUs) and 36% for non-ICUs. After 12 months of measuring product usage and providing feedback, compliance increased to 37% for ICUs and 51% for non-ICUs. (ICU, P = .0119; non-ICU, P < .001). HH compliance in the United States can increase when monitoring is combined with feedback. However, HH still occurs at or below 50% compliance for both ICUs and non-ICUs. (Am J Med Qual 2009;24:205-213)
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available