Reviewed by Barry Rittmann, MD, MPH, Virginia Commonwealth University
Hand hygiene compliance is a constant struggle in healthcare settings, requiring extensive buy in among team members, and a culture shift throughout the hospital. Often interventions are seen in a negative light, leading to defensive responses to hand hygiene campaigns. In a recent study in the American Journal of Infection Control, researchers evaluated a novel approach to hand hygiene education. Healthcare providers were asked to provide education to patients and their families with the goal to improve patient compliance. Interventions were left to the individual units. Outcomes included hand hygiene rates among patients/families and health care workers. Although results did vary based on type of intervention, researchers found that hand hygiene significantly improved for both patients/families (OR 1.82 p=0.041) and health care workers (OR 2.15 p<0.001). This innovative approach allowed healthcare providers to be facilitators of the intervention instead of targets, which could lead to a more positive outlook on the campaign, and a bigger impact on hand hygiene culture.
Reference: Cheng B, Chan M, AbiFarrage D, Braschel M, Harrison P, Srigley JA. Becoming Hand Hygiene Heroes: implementation of an infection prevention and control campaign for patient and family hospital safety. Am J Infect Control. 2024 Oct 26:S0196-6553(24)00815-0. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2024.10.026. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39490414.