Hand Hygiene Article Collection
Spreading the handwashing message: An alternative to traditional media campaigns
Schools are a natural place from which to disseminate health messages to the community. Sending an entertaining handwashing video home with preschoolers as a component of a school-based program yielded impressive degrees of penetration and reach among families; consequently, this strategy offers a promising alternative to traditional media campaigns.Are short training sessions on hand hygiene effective in preventing hospital-acquired MRSA? A time-series analysis
We tested the impact of short hand hygiene training sessions and bed occupancy rates on the spread of hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) using a multivariate time-series analysis. According to our model, bed occupancy rates within general ward and intensive care unit settings correlated positively with the incidence of hospital-acquired MRSA, whereas alcohol-based hand rub use and MRSA showed a negative correlation. Furthermore, our model shows that 2 hand hygiene campaigns based on short training sessions effected a long-run reduction in the incidence of hospital-acquired MRSA.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.Evaluating the impact of a hand hygiene campaign on improving adherence
We monitored compliance with hand hygiene (HH) by direct observation in 3 hospitals in Cantabria, Spain before and after implementation of an HH informational campaign, separately analyzing the effect of a training program. We report that training plus an informational campaign doubled the probability of HH, whereas the informational campaign without training decreased adherence, acting as a deleterious factor in HH adherence.
