Hand hygiene by patients may prevent acquisition and dissemination of health care–associated
pathogens, but limited efforts have been made to engage patients in hand hygiene interventions.
In a long-term care facility, we found that residents were aware of the importance
of hand hygiene, but barriers, such as inaccessible products or difficult to use products,
limited compliance. A dramatic and sustained improvement in meal time hand hygiene
was achieved through engagement of staff and residents.
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References
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Article info
Footnotes
Funding/support: This work was supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Potential conflicts of interest: Dr. Donskey has received research grants from GOJO, STERIS, 3M, and Ecolab and has served on scientific advisory boards for 3M. All other authors report no conflicts of interest relevant to this article.
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Published by Elsevier Inc.
