Reduction of Health Care–Associated Infection Risk in Neonates by Successful Hand Hygiene Promotion

Abstract

Hand hygiene promotion, guided by health care workers' perceptions, identification of the dynamics of bacterial contamination of health care workers' hands, and performance feedback, is effective in sustaining compliance improvement and is independently associated with infection risk reduction among high-risk neonates.

Impact of observing hand hygiene in practice and research: a methodological reconsideration

“…Product uptake has been used as an indicator of hand hygiene compliance in a number of studies either as a secondary outcome measure to corroborate the results of direct observation 44,45,46,47,48,49 or as the main audit method 50, 51, 52, 53, . There is some evidence 54 that it might be a more sensitive indicator of the impact of alcohol-based antiseptics on HCAI rates than direct observation providing that uptake can be restricted to health workers only.…”

A Rapid-Cycle Quality Improvement Initiative to Increase Compliance with Infection Control Precautions in a Pediatric Ward

“…6 The results from our rapid-cycle QI initiative highlight the opportunity to improve HCW compliance with infection control precautions in the study unit. There was no significant difference in overall compliance before and after a brief but intensive focused intervention (P = .77).…”

Hand Hygiene

“…652 The number of opportunities for hand hygiene depends largely on the process of care provided: revision of protocols for patient care may reduce unnecessary contacts and, consequently, hand hygiene opportunities. 657 In 11 observational studies, the duration of hand cleansing episodes by HCWs ranged on average from as short as 6.6 seconds to 30 seconds. In 10 of these studies, the hand hygiene technique monitored was handwashing, 79,124,135,[213][214][215][216]218,572,611 while handrubbing was monitored in one study.…”

“…60,140,215,216,334,335,485,486,492,493,496,497,613,633,637,[648][649][650][651]654,655,657, It should be pointed out that the methods for defining adherence (or non-adherence) and the methods for conducting observations varied considerably in the reported studies, and many articles did not include detailed information about the methods and criteria used. Some studies assessed compliance with hand hygiene concerning the same patient, 60,334,648,652,666,667,683,[685][686][687] and an increasing number have recently evaluated hand hygiene compliance after contact with the patient environment.…”