Rate of Healthcare Worker–Patient Interaction and Hand Hygiene Opportunities in an Acute Care Setting

• Published in: Infection control and hospital epidemiology 2014-03, Vol.35 (3), p.225-230
• Main Authors: Goodliffe, Laura, Ragan, Kelsey, Larocque, Michael, Borgundvaag, Emily, Khan, Sophia, Moore, Christine, McCreight, Liz, Coleman, Brenda L., McGeer, Allison J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Medical Centers - statistics & numerical data; Biological and medical sciences; Data collection; Drug interactions; Emergency departments; Emergency Service, Hospital - statistics & numerical data; Epidemiology. Vaccinations; General aspects; Hand Hygiene - statistics & numerical data; Health care industry; Hospital units; Housekeeping, Hospital - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Infectious diseases; Inpatients - statistics & numerical data; Intensive care units; Intensive Care Units - statistics & numerical data; Intensive Care Units, Neonatal - statistics & numerical data; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Neonatal intensive care; Neonatal intensive care units; Nurses; Nursing; Nursing Staff - statistics & numerical data; Original Article; Personnel, Hospital - statistics & numerical data; Physicians; Physicians - statistics & numerical data; Prospective Studies; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
• ISSN: 0899-823X; 1559-6834
• DOI: 10.1086/675286

Objective. Identify factors affecting the rate of hand hygiene opportunities in an acute care hospital. Design. Prospective observational study. Setting. Medical and surgical in-patient units, medical-surgical intensive care unit (MSICU), neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and emergency department (ED) of an academic acute care hospital from May to August, 2012. Participants. Healthcare workers. Methods. One-hour patient-based observations measured patient interactions and hand hygiene opportunities as defined by the “Four Moments for Hand Hygiene.” Rates of patient interactions and hand hygiene opportunities per patient-hour were calculated, examining variation by room type, healthcare worker type, and time of day. Results. During 257 hours of observation, 948 healthcare worker–patient interactions and 1,605 hand hygiene opportunities were identified. Moments 1, 2, 3, and 4 comprised 42%, 10%, 9%, and 39% of hand hygiene opportunities. Nurses contributed 77% of opportunities, physicians contributed 8%, other healthcare workers contributed 11%, and housekeeping contributed 4%. The mean rate of hand hygiene opportunities per patient-hour was 4.2 for surgical units, 4.5 for medical units, 5.2 for ED, 10.4 for NICU, and 13.2 for MSICU (P < .001). In non-ICU settings, rates of hand hygiene opportunities decreased over the course of the day. Patients with transmission-based precautions had approximately half as many interactions (rate ratio [RR], 0.55 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.37–0.80]) and hand hygiene opportunities per hour (RR, 0.47 [95% CI, 0.29–0.77]) as did patients without precautions. Conclusions. Measuring hand hygiene opportunities across clinical settings lays the groundwork for product use–based hand hygiene measurement. Additional work is needed to assess factors affecting rates in other hospitals and health care settings.