Jane Kirk MSN, RN, CIC, clinical specialist, advised GOJO Industries, a leading global producer and marketer of skin health and hygiene solutions for away-from-home settings, about the basics of good hand hygiene practices. Even with all of the technology that today's healthcare employs, hand hygiene is still recognized as the most important action to reduce healthcare acquired infections.
Jane Kirk, MSN, RN, CIC, shares four quick tips for ASCs working to improve hand hygiene compliance among staff members.
1. Administrative support. As stated in The Joint Commission Hand Hygiene Measurement Monograph, "to improve hand hygiene adherence, a comprehensive, multidisciplinary effort that includes explicit support from administration is needed."1 In addition to administrative support and resources, the program need staff buy-in and their support.
2. Staff buy-in. One way to secure staff buy-in and support is to involve staff in the development of the hand hygiene compliance improvement projects in a fun and engaging way. This gives them investment and ownership in the success of the program.
3. Carefully tailor and change hand hygiene measures as needed. When planning the strategy to improve compliance, keep in mind that the Institute for Healthcare Improvement suggests that one can not expect hand hygiene intervention to be successfully implemented overnight. The IHI describes a successful program as one which includes "careful planning, testing to determine if the processes are working, making modifications as needed, retesting, and carefully implementing best practices."2
4. Appoint a process owner. Although much more is written and available today to guide an infection preventionist in driving a hand hygiene program, it is imperative that efforts focus on systematic and sustainable solutions that yield higher compliance behavior. The IHI's How-to Guide: Improving Hand Hygiene states that once high levels of compliance are achieved, a "process owner" must be identified. The process owner is the person who will ensure that high levels of performance are maintained and help to troubleshoot key aspects of the hand hygiene program if the compliance rates fall.2
Learn more about GOJO.
References
1The Joint Commission et al (2009). Measuring Hand Hygiene Adherence: Overcoming the Challenges. The Joint Commission, Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois.
2Institute for Healthcare Improvement. How-to Guide: Improving Hand Hygiene. A Guide for Improving Practices among Health Care Workers.
retrieved from http://www.IHI.org
Jane Kirk, MSN, RN, CIC, shares four quick tips for ASCs working to improve hand hygiene compliance among staff members.
1. Administrative support. As stated in The Joint Commission Hand Hygiene Measurement Monograph, "to improve hand hygiene adherence, a comprehensive, multidisciplinary effort that includes explicit support from administration is needed."1 In addition to administrative support and resources, the program need staff buy-in and their support.
2. Staff buy-in. One way to secure staff buy-in and support is to involve staff in the development of the hand hygiene compliance improvement projects in a fun and engaging way. This gives them investment and ownership in the success of the program.
3. Carefully tailor and change hand hygiene measures as needed. When planning the strategy to improve compliance, keep in mind that the Institute for Healthcare Improvement suggests that one can not expect hand hygiene intervention to be successfully implemented overnight. The IHI describes a successful program as one which includes "careful planning, testing to determine if the processes are working, making modifications as needed, retesting, and carefully implementing best practices."2
4. Appoint a process owner. Although much more is written and available today to guide an infection preventionist in driving a hand hygiene program, it is imperative that efforts focus on systematic and sustainable solutions that yield higher compliance behavior. The IHI's How-to Guide: Improving Hand Hygiene states that once high levels of compliance are achieved, a "process owner" must be identified. The process owner is the person who will ensure that high levels of performance are maintained and help to troubleshoot key aspects of the hand hygiene program if the compliance rates fall.2
Learn more about GOJO.
References
1The Joint Commission et al (2009). Measuring Hand Hygiene Adherence: Overcoming the Challenges. The Joint Commission, Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois.
2Institute for Healthcare Improvement. How-to Guide: Improving Hand Hygiene. A Guide for Improving Practices among Health Care Workers.
retrieved from http://www.IHI.org
