Background
Although hand hygiene (HH) is key to reducing health care–associated infections, it
is well documented that health care worker (HCW) adherence to appropriate HH protocols
is relatively low.
Methods
This was a collaborative quality improvement project with multiple interventions conducted
in a 570-bed academic hospital in Columbia, MO between April 2006 and September 2012.
A multimodal action plan to improve HH adherence among all HCWs was developed, addressing
4 key areas: staff education, staff accountability, hand sanitizer product selection
and accessibility, and organizational culture. HH adherence and central line–associated
bloodstream infection (CLABSI) rates were monitored as outcome measures.
Results
The overall HH adherence rate increased from 58% in April 2006 to 98% in September
2012. The adherence rates increased among all hospital units and among all HCW categories;
in September 2012, HH adherence was 96% for physicians, 99% for nursing staff, and
99% for food services staff. CLABSI rates decreased over the same period, from 4.08
per 1000 device-days to 0.42 per 1000 device-days.
Conclusions
This multifactorial quality improvement project resulted in an institution-wide increase
in HH adherence and a significant decrease in CLABSIs.
Key Words
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Article info
Footnotes
Medline Industries, Mundelein, IL, contributed publication assistance. Editorial assistance in preparing this manuscript was provided by Magellan Medical Technology Consultants, Inc, Minneapolis, MN.
Conflict of interest: None to report.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
