A study conducted at North Shore University Hospital on Long Island and published in Clinical Infectious Diseases showed that hand hygiene compliance dramatically improved when staff members were auditing remotely by a video system, according to a Sacramento Bee report.
Over an initial 16-week period, the hospital staff was monitored to establish a base rate of hand hygiene compliance without any feedback to the staff. Using a very strict definition of hand hygiene — which required workers to perform hand hygiene before and after patient care within 10 seconds of entering or exiting the room, regardless if gloves were used — their rates matched up with previously documented findings of around 10 percent.
In the next 16-week period, the staff members received real-time feedback on their performance via LED screens mounted on the walls of the MICU, as well as from management. The hand hygiene rate during the second period jumped to over 80 percent, and the hospital maintained a sustained rate of well above 80 percent during a 17-month maintenance period.
According to the report, over 430,000 hand hygiene data points were collected during the 25-month study period, making this the most comprehensive study ever conducted on hand hygiene performance.
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Over an initial 16-week period, the hospital staff was monitored to establish a base rate of hand hygiene compliance without any feedback to the staff. Using a very strict definition of hand hygiene — which required workers to perform hand hygiene before and after patient care within 10 seconds of entering or exiting the room, regardless if gloves were used — their rates matched up with previously documented findings of around 10 percent.
In the next 16-week period, the staff members received real-time feedback on their performance via LED screens mounted on the walls of the MICU, as well as from management. The hand hygiene rate during the second period jumped to over 80 percent, and the hospital maintained a sustained rate of well above 80 percent during a 17-month maintenance period.
According to the report, over 430,000 hand hygiene data points were collected during the 25-month study period, making this the most comprehensive study ever conducted on hand hygiene performance.
Related Articles on Infection Control:
New York Hospitals Partner to Identify Medical Needs, Improve Population Health
Rush University Medical Center's New Facility in Chicago Designed to Fight Pandemics
CDC: Key Medication at Center of Adverse Medical Errors for Elderly
