Hand Hygiene Article Collection
Prevention of the spread of infection: The need for a family-centered approach to hygiene promotion
Infectious diseases (IDs) continue to be a significant health and economic burden on the community, and the emergence of new pathogens, including antimicrobial resistant strains, demand new prevention strategies, which involve not only health care settings but the community as a whole. The situation is exacerbated by social, demographic, and other changes, which means that people with reduced immunity to infection now make up an increasing proportion of the global population.1 Technologic and policy changes are introduced to save costs or reduce environmental effects without regard to their potential impact on ID risks.Return to Hand Hygiene: The Effectiveness of an Innovative Hand Hygiene Campaign
Saungi McCalla, MSN, MPH, RN,CIC, Director of Infection Control; Paul Quinn, MSN, CNM, RN-BC, NE-BC, CEN, CCRN, Clinical Nurse Specialist; Xiaohong Yu, M.Ed, RN; Clinical Information Coordinator, White Plains Hospital Center, White Plains, NY.Raising the Bar on Hand Hygiene Compliance: A Leadership Lead System-Wide Initiative
Judy Prescott, RN, BSN, CIC, Manager, Epidemiology; William Sutker, MD, Medical Director, Epidemiology; Cristie Columbus, MD, Asst. Medical Director; Irving Prengler, MD, Chief Medical Officer; Janette Brown, RN, BSN; Fidelina Valencia, RN, BSN; Allen Peden, RN; Connie Izzo, RN, Epidemiology Nurse, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, TXClean Hands for Life™: Results of a Regional Hand Hygiene Campaign
Leslie A. Forrester, BA (Hons.), MA, MSc, Regional Hospital Epidemiologist, Vancouver Coastal Health, Powell River, BC Canada, Elizabeth A. Bryce, MD, Regional Medical Director, Anne K. Mediaa, BSc, Research Assistant, Vancouver Coastal Health, Vancouver, BC Canada.A Program for Monitoring Staff Hand Hygiene Activity at a Small Orthopaedic Pediatric Hospital
Helen S. Brom, RN, BSN, Infection Control/Employee Health Coordinator, Dori Henderson, PhD, Staff Development Coordinator, Shriners Hospitals for Children/Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN.Hand Hygiene Measurement
Marla Clifton, RN, MSN, CIC, Infection Control Practitioner, Jewish Hospital, Cincinnati, OH.Multi-Tiered Approach to Hand Hygiene Compliance Monitoring
Susan Boeker, BSN, RN, CIC, Infection Control Practitioner, Connie Steed, RN, MSN, CIC, Director of Infection Control, William Kelly, MD, Hospital Epidemiologist, Karen Corwin, CPM, Purchasing Agent, Greenville Hospital System, Greenville, SC.Hand Hygiene Stations: Building a Culture of Hand Hygiene in a Large Urban Teaching Facility
Judy Prescott, RN, BSN, CIC, Manager, Epidemiology, William Sutker, MD, Medical Director, Epidemiology, Cristie Columbus, MD, Assistant Medical Director, Epidemiology, Fidelina Valencia, RN, Epidemiology Nurse, Allen Peden, RN, Epidemiology Nurse, Connie Izzo, RN, Epidemiology Nurse, Janette Brown, RN, Epidemiology Nurse, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, TX.Increasing Employee Hand Hygiene Compliance: A Patient Safety Goal
ISSUE: In 2003 healthcare worker hand hygiene became a patient safety goal. In October 2003 the Greenwich Hospital/Yale New Haven Health System Quality Management selected employee compliance with hand hygiene as a quality core measure. Employee compliance with the hand hygiene guidelines was 58% at the start of the initiative. Employees were inconsistent with their hand hygiene practices, had unrealistic perceptions of hand hygiene compliance, failed to recognize the risk to the patient, and were unaware of the hand hygiene policy.Hand Hygiene: Staff-Driven Approach Leads to Success
ISSUE: Since Ignaz Semmelweis first demonstrated the effectiveness of hand hygiene in reducing instances of puerperal sepsis, hand hygiene has been the key concept in reducing the transmission of organisms. Despite the availability of hand sanitizers in the hallways and reminders by Infection Control personnel, compliance with hand hygiene at our institution was similar to trends of low hand hygiene compliance as reported nationally. PROJECT: In 2004, the Infection Control Department, in conjunction with Quality Management, initiated a hospital wide hand hygiene campaign, whose goal was to improve staff compliance with hand hygiene.Staff hand hygiene monitors: How do you get them done?
ISSUE: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health Care Settings recommends monitoring adherence to hand hygiene and providing feedback to staff. We wanted to do this and determine accurate baseline compliance rates for all direct patient care areas but lacked infection control (IC) staffing to accomplish this goal. We also feared that results would be positively skewed if IC staff did the monitors. PROJECT: We utilized a high school student seeking healthcare-related work experience to conduct hand hygiene monitors in all direct patient care areas.
