| 1. |
A report based on data taken from the 2014 Leapfrog Hospital Survey of 1,501 U.S. hospitals revealed that one in four still have not implemented all the safe practices and policies recommended for proper hand hygiene. These standards include having hospitalwide hand hygiene education and training, submitting hand hygiene recommendations and results to the hospital board, holding clinical leadership accountable for compliance and implementing performance improvement programs. |
| 2. |
Researchers found that a lack of standardization in how hand hygiene-related solutions are arranged at hospital emergency department wash basins may have an effect on performance. By standardizing the relative location of handwash solutions, such as soap on one side and hand drying agents on the other, hospitals may be able to improve hand hygiene behaviors. |
| 3. |
Senior health professionals and mentors play an important role in improving hand hygiene compliance. Compliance among medical students and healthcare workers in one study was marginally higher among those whose leaders practiced hand hygiene (71 percent) than among groups whose leaders did not (29 percent). |
| 4. |
A study in the American Journal of Infection Control revealed that healthcare workers touch their faces multiple times each hour, a habit that could spread germs if hand hygiene compliance is not met. By raising awareness of this habit and its effects, hospitals may be able to improve hand hygiene compliance. |
| 5. |
The Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare started a patient safety project on hand hygiene across eight hospitals. The teams found that a targeted approach to hand hygiene improvement – focusing improvement efforts on specific issues of noncompliance – can be more effective than a “one-size-fits-all” strategy. |
| 6. |
In an informal survey conducted by Mundelein, Ill.-based Medline’s online clinical education resource, most of the nurses surveyed – 44.5 percent – indicated their hands felt dry and itchy during a regular shift. What’s more, 13.9 percent of surveyed nurses said they have considered leaving the healthcare field due to dry, irritated or damaged hands. Improving hand hygiene compliance will undoubtedly mean addressing these issues. |
| 7. |
When implementing a hand hygiene program, researchers suggest emphasizing continuous monitoring and immediate feedback to help increase compliance rates. |
| 8. |
Healthcare workers are less likely to comply with hand hygiene standards at the end of a shift, particularly if it was a long shift. Hygiene compliance rates dropped by 8.7 percentage points on average from the beginning to the end of a typical, 12-hour work shift, but the effect was mitigated by longer breaks between shifts. |
| 9. |
A study in the American Journal of Infection Control found a change as simple as installing bright red hand sanitizer dispensers can increase hand hygiene compliance in hospitals. |
| 10. |
Besides the use of bright red hand sanitizer dispensers to improve hand hygiene; compliance rates at one hospital roughly doubled after flashing red lights were placed on hand sanitizer dispensers. |
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