Hand hygiene compliance is integral to lowering healthcare-acquired infections around the globe, which are costly and can have serious health repercussions for patients.
Here are six things to note about hand hygiene compliance:
1. Chapel Hill-based University of North Carolina Hospitals researchers conducted a 17-month study finding a 10 percent improvement in hand hygiene linked with a 6 percent reduction in overall HAIs.
2. The aforementioned study authors noted adherence to hand hygiene compliance resulted in an estimated 197 fewer infections, an estimated 22 fewer deaths and yielded an overall savings of $5 million.
3. To promote hand hygiene awareness, the CDC named May 5, 2016, as World Hand Hygiene Day. Through the campaign, the agency seeks to:
● Bolster providers adhere to CDC hand hygiene recommendations
● Have patients ask or remind their providers to wash their hands
● Dispel myths and misperceptions about hand hygiene
4. In an interview with Becker's ASC Review, Barbara Connell, VP of clinical services at Medline, said surveyors are placing a higher emphasis on ASC staff members adhering to hand hygiene protocols. Surgery centers face many of the same challenges as the acute care setting such as having inconveniently placed dispensers and sinks as well as staff members who aren't knowledgeable about hand hygiene regulations.
5. An SBI General Insurance claims study found failure to comply with hand hygiene regulations led to a higher incidence of disease. SBI General Insurance found individuals in the 21- to 30-year-old age group made the most hand hygiene-related disease claims. This cohort comprised 29 percent of total claims for diseases including typhoid, paratyphoid and gastroenteritis.
6. In October 2005, the World Health Organization launched "Clean Care is Safer Care," the first of its Global Patient Safety Challenge initiatives to lower healthcare-associated infections throughout the world.
