Highlights
- •Implementation of an electronic hand hygiene monitoring system (EMS) is labor intensive
- •An EMS is helpful for identifying clinical practices to review for correct hand hygiene performance
- •Improvement in hand hygiene performance is aided by an EMS
ABSTRACT
Background
Electronic monitoring systems (EMS) for measuring hand hygiene performance have many
advantages. Previous studies have shared results of EMS in individual units or single
institutions, without many details of implementation. The implementation steps for
house wide use of an EMS in 12 hospitals are described.
Methods
Hospital resources used in this 3-year implementation included those for installation
activities, initial education about the components and function of the EMS, evaluation
of healthcare professionals’ processes related to hand hygiene, routine data feedback
in a variety of methods, continuous coaching and training on the EMS, incentive programs
and strong leadership support.
Results
Continual process improvement activities resulted in a 23% increase in hand hygiene
performance, from 53% at baseline, to 76%.
Discussion/Conclusion
Implementation of an EMS required many resources beyond those for the technology,
but resulted in measurable improvement in hand hygiene performance.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 27, 2022
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofFootnotes
All authors have nothing to disclose.
Conflicts of interest: None to report.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
