Study on improvement of hand hygiene compliance and correctness of health care workers in a large hospital

Abstract:

ObjectiveTo explore strategies and measures to improve hand hygiene (HH) compliance and correctness of health care workers (HCWs) in a large hospital.MethodsThe WHO multimodal hand hygiene improvement strategy was adopted by healthcareassociated infection(HAI) management department of a hospital, measures consisted of five key components, including: system change, education and training, evaluation and feedback, reminders in the workplace, and institutional safety climate. HH compliance and correctness of HCWs were observed by infection control practitioners, HH compliance and correctness in JanuaryJune of 2012 (preintervention) and JanuaryJune of 2014 (postintervention) were compared, effectiveness of intervention strategies were evaluated.ResultsHH compliance rate and correctness rate of postintervention were both higher than preintervention (75.92%［8 369/11 023］ vs 53.67%［5 127/9 553］, P＜0.001;   94.11%［7 782/8 269］ vs 83.88%［3 642/4 342］, P＜0.001）. Of different occupations, HH compliance rates of doctors and nurses were significantly different before and after intervention (both P＜0.001）, while workers and staff of other occupations before and after intervention were not significantly different(both P>0.05）. Except ‘after body fluid exposure’, HH compliance rates of the other four indications for HH before and after intervention were significantly different(all P＜0.001）.ConclusionHH compliance and correctness of HCWs can be improved after adopting WHO multimodal hand hygiene improvement strategy.