A recent study published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology changed that. Researchers at a large university hospital deployed a custom-built, automated hand hygiene monitoring system that served two purposes: detecting if a worker performed hand hygiene upon entering and exiting a patient’s room and estimating the location of other healthcare workers with respect to the worker under observation.
Over a 10-day period, a total of 47,694 hand hygiene opportunities were identified. When a worker was alone, adherence rates were just under 21 percent. When other healthcare workers were present, hand hygiene adherence increased to just under 28 percent. Additionally, observed hand hygiene compliance increased when more coworkers were present.
“The presence and proximity of other healthcare workers is associated with higher hand hygiene rates,” the researchers concluded.
More articles on hand hygiene:
How to improve validity of hand hygiene observation
Study: Glove use after hand hygiene results in fewer infections in preterm infants
Colored sanitizer dispensers boost hand hygiene compliance, study shows
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