Highlights
- •Hand hygiene auditors are passionate advocates for the role of effective hand hygiene in improved patient safety.
- •Hand hygiene auditors face many significant challenges in undertaking the role.
- •Barriers include organizational, professional, and cultural issues.
- •Enablers include overt managerial leadership, support, and feedback.
Background
Within the Australian public health care system, an observation model is used to assess
hand hygiene practice in health care workers, culminating in a publicly available
healthcare service performance indicator. The intent of this study was for the results
to inform the development of a strategy to support individual auditors and local sustainability
of the hand hygiene auditing program.
Method
This qualitative study used a values clarification tool to gain an understanding of
the experiences of hand hygiene auditors. The methodology involved qualitative interpretation
of focus group discussions to identify the enablers and barriers to successful performance
of the auditors' role.
Results
Twenty-five participants identified congruous themes of the need for peer and managerial
support, improved communication and feedback, and consideration for succession planning.
There was consistency in the participants' most frequently identified significant
barriers in undertaking the role.
Conclusion
Hand hygiene auditors take pride in their role and work toward the goal of reducing
health care–associated infections by having a part to play in improving hand hygiene
practices of all staff members. Important themes, barriers, and enablers were identified
in this study. This research will be of interest nationally and globally, considering
the dearth of published information on the experience of hand hygiene auditors. This
study provides evidence of the need to support individual hand hygiene auditors.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 20, 2015
Footnotes
Conflicts of interest: None to report.
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
