Highlights
- •Reduced absenteeism among community hospital emergency room personnel after implementation of an automated hand hygiene compliance system.
- •Use of automated hand hygiene compliance systems may decrease health care personnel sick call outs and the number of overtime hours worked by substitute staff.
- •Decreased health care personnel absenteeism and decreased overtime hours paid represent significant returns on the investment of implementing an automated hand hygiene compliance system.
Few studies have examined the use of hand hygiene interventions among health care
personnel and employee absenteeism. To improve the hand hygiene practices of emergency
room nurses and technicians, we implemented mandatory use of an automated hand hygiene
compliance system. After implementation, we found reductions in employee absenteeism
and the number of overtime hours worked by substitute staff. These unanticipated results
demonstrate a return on investment that benefits the health of employees.
Key Words
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References
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 20, 2019
Footnotes
Funding/support: Biovigil Healthcare Systems, Inc had no role in conducting this study. Biovigil Healthcare Systems, Inc provided both medical writing and statistical analysis support for this study.
Conflicts of interest: T.M.B. works as a statistical consultant for Biovigil Healthcare Systems, Inc. J.S. and H.S. have no conflicts of interest to report.
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
