Researchers assessed the outcomes of the initiative in the eight years after implementation, from Jan 1, 2009, to June 30, 2017. They examined including hospital participation, hand hygiene compliance three times per year, educational engagement, cost and link to incidence of healthcare-associated Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia.
The study shows that healthcare facility participation in the initiative increased from 105 hospitals in 2009 to 937 hospitals in 2017. Overall hand hygiene compliance, which was 63.6 percent of 56,978 opportunities in 2009, increased to 84.3 percent of 586,559 opportunities.
Among the 132 major public hospitals in the country, improved hand hygiene compliance was linked to declines in the incidence of healthcare-associated S. aureus — every 10 percent increase in hand hygiene compliance resulted in a 15 percent decrease in S. aureus incidence.
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