Research published in the American Journal of Infection Control examined if both overt and covert observation increase hand hygiene compliance.
Researchers observed healthcare workers hand hygiene through five monitoring sessions of simultaneous overt and covert observation. They also added covert observation to a hand hygiene promotion program.
Here are the key takeaways:
1. Covert observation, when repeated, did not improve hand hygiene.
2. Compliance was over 90 percent under overt observation conditions.
3. Under covert conditions, compliance was below 50 percent.
