Hand hygiene behaviours monitored by an electronic system in the intensive care unit – a prospective observational study

• Published in: The Journal of hospital infection 2022-05, Vol.123, p.126-134
• Main Authors: Xu, Q., Liu, Y., Cepulis, D., Jerde, A., Sheppard, R.A., Reichle, W., Scott, L., Oppy, L., Stevenson, G., Bishop, S., Clifford, S.P., Liu, P., Kong, M., Huang, J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Behaviours; Compliance; Cross Infection - prevention & control; Electronic monitoring; Electronics; Guideline Adherence; Hand Hygiene; Health Personnel; Hospital acquired; Humans; Infection Control; Infection prevention; Intensive Care Units
• ISSN: 0195-6701; 1532-2939
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhin.2022.01.017

It is difficult to improve compliance with hand hygiene (HH), and underlying behaviours are not clearly understood among healthcare workers. To study HH behaviours among healthcare workers. This was a prospective observational study. A Sanibit electronic HH system was installed in a 10-bed surgical intensive care unit (ICU) that detected HH opportunities automatically when healthcare workers entered or exited a patient room, and tracked the HH compliance of healthcare workers. The HH compliance rate and patient contact time were calculated and analysed at both ICU level and individual level over time. In total, 27,692 HH opportunities were recorded over this 6-month trial period. The HH compliance rate was significantly higher when healthcare workers exited patient rooms than when they entered patient rooms (37.3% vs 26.1%; P