Overcoming Patient Barriers to Discussing Physician Hand Hygiene: Do Patients Prefer Electronic Reminders to Other Methods?

Abstract

The strongest predictor of not challenging a doctor to clean their hands was not believing it was the patient's role to do so. Patients prefer electronic device reminders to printed information as an aid in overcoming barriers to discussing hand hygiene with physicians.

Discrepancy in perceptions regarding patient participation in hand hygiene between patients and health care workers

“…The positive attitude of patients toward PP in our study was as high as reported in previous studies. 9,10,13,14,17 However the positive perception of HCWs (25%-30%) was much lower than in other studies. 16,18,19 The difference in HCWs' acceptance level might result from differences in the context or culture of the institutions, the relative proportions of the occupation categories, or the ages or ethnic groups of the respondents.…”

“…Such disparities between patients' perceptions and their actions and in patient's comfort according to the status of HCWs, were also suggested in other studies, 9,21 where patients' actual willingness to ask decreased to a half or less. The reasons given for patients not to speak up in this study as well as the previous ones [11][12][13] suggest that patients do not feel fully empowered by HCWs to use PP. A recent review by McGuckin and Govedink 22 emphasized that the foundation of PP is empowerment.…”

“…This reluctance to being judged on HH compliance by patients may reflect HCWs' lack of willingness to empower patients, especially in the case of physicians, as shown by their low agreement with PP. A prior study 13 suggested that the use of an electronic device as a reminder was the most-favored method for encouraging patients to discuss HH with physicians. Such an automated device could be a good way for patients to avoid confronting HCWs directly.…”

“…However, the few studies that have focused on HCWs' perspectives have yielded inconsistent results. Various methods such as wearing aprons saying, "It's OK to ask," 12 or using an electronic reminding device 13 have been suggested to help patients feel comfortable discussing HH with HCWs, which implies that additional methods may be needed to encourage PP.…”

Examining the online approaches used by hospitals in Sydney, Australia to inform patients about healthcare associated infections and infection prevention strategies

“…The Australian National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards supports the idea of patient empowerment in relation to the clinical benefits associated with decreased rate of HCAIs [4]. However, it is well recognised that empowering patients to ask HCWs about their HH is challenging [5][6][7][8][9][10].…”