Evaluation of patient participation in a patient empowerment initiative to improve hand hygiene practices in a Veterans Affairs medical center

Systematic review of the effectiveness of strategies to encourage patients to remind healthcare professionals about their hand hygiene

“…Four articles examined patients' intentions to participate; 34,46,66,67 three articles provided measures of patient behaviour assessed by patient reports (and indirectly through use of alcohol gel); 28,68,75 and three articles examined both intentions and behaviour measured by: (1) patientreported intentions and behaviour, and HCPs' reports of patient behaviour; 80 (2) patient-reported intentions, HCP reports on patient behaviour and use of alcohol gel; 69 and (3) patient reports, HCP reports and observations. 74 Two articles gave indirect measures of patient involvement based on HCPs' use of HH products. 72,76 Across three (of the six) articles that measured patient behaviour, between 90% and 100% of patients reported asking nurses about their HH during the intervention vs 32e40% asking doctors.…”

Patient Empowerment and Multimodal Hand Hygiene Promotion: A Win-Win Strategy

“…Lent and colleagues reported an increase in willingness to ask about hand hygiene when positive messages such as "thank you for practising hand hygiene" and reminders that said "thanks for washing" were used to support patient empowerment. 36 However, based on similar studies, others have come to a different conclusion. For example, Julian and colleagues evaluated the use of posters to empower HCWs and patients and concluded that posters alone are insufficient to achieve the goal.…”

Ask, speak up, and be proactive: Empowering patient infection control to prevent health care–acquired infections

“…27,28 Most recently, it was introduced into the Cleveland Veterans Affair Medical Center in 2007. 29 During the Cleveland study, patients were given a script to assist them with reminding their HCWs to wash their hands. After reviewing the compliance, the authors modified the script so that patients were thanking their HCWs for washing their hands.…”

“…Significant improvements in the proportion of patients who commented to their HCW about HH were documented after the introduction of the modified script (45% vs 3%; P < .01). 29 Recently, a single-center randomized controlled trial was conducted in which 66 wards were allocated to 1 of 3 arms during a 24-month intervention phase. In all 3 arms, multimodal HH promotion continued via the use of cards, posters, and e-mails.…”