Two recent studies suggest nurses' hand hygiene compliance rate is higher than that of physicians.
A study in the American Journal of Infection Control found the following hand hygiene compliance rate among hospital workers in Brazil between June 2006 to August 2009:
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• Nurses — 77.9 percent
• Technicians — 52.6 percent
• Physicians — 44.6 percent
Another study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases found similar patterns of hand hygiene compliance rates among hospital workers in Costa Rica, Italy, Mali, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia both before and after a compliance improvement intervention. In 2006, nurses' compliance rates were 54.9 percent and physicians' rates were 43.7 percent. In 2008, after an intervention, the rates were 71.5 percent and 60.1 percent for nurses and physicians, respectively.
More Articles on Hand Hygiene:
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WHO's 5-Part Hand Hygiene Strategy Improved Compliance in 5 Countries
