ICT asked infection preventionists to share some of their best strategies for boosting hand hygiene compliance at their facilities.
There’s one thing Nash Health Care’s infection prevention coordinator doesn’t mind spreading throughout the facility — news that handwashing prevents infection and saves lives. Wanda Lamm, BSN, CIC, has been infection prevention coordinator at the Rocky Mount, N.C. facility for 18 years, where employees from all disciplines have gone the extra mile to promote and practice proper handwashing.
It’s not unusual to see blue buttons, computer screen savers, window clings and fliers throughout the 353-bed hospital system declaring, “Ask. Learn. Clean.” These reminders, which feature a handprint, are not just an important reminder of patient safety, they are declarations that at Nash Health Care, a member of VHA Inc., employees practice what they preach.
An infection prevention initiative has utilized “secret observers,” healthcare employees who silently survey areas for appropriate handwashing techniques and submit the data to Lamm. From there, the data is categorized and reported monthly to hospital managers, administration, and to the staff — creating a dose of healthy competition between units to identify the most compliant performers.
“Compliance rates are reported by disciplines and by departments, so that everyone sees how others are doing,” Lamm says. “I believe having staff members participate in collecting observations raises their awareness of what is really happening in their units.”
The methods are working; not only has Nash Health Care seen a decrease in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), but handwashing compliance has increased from an average of 69 percent for 2007 to 87 percent for 2008. In addition, since September 2008, handwashing compliance has averaged more than 90 percent before and after patient care. While the most recent data for 2009 is still being processed, preliminary estimates indicate that compliance is hitting around the 94 percent mark, placing Nash Health Care closer to its goal of 95 percent.
While a 90 percent handwashing compliance rate is in line with Joint Commission standards, Nash Health Care wanted to take patient care to the next level.
“Doing a good job is simply not good enough,” Lamm says. “We want to provide superior quality care and provide a culture of safety where employees approach others prior to failure to wash hands. This is why our infection prevention committee made the recommendation of a 95 percent compliance goal. Employees have embraced the program and are demonstrating outstanding teamwork, from nurses to physical therapists to transporters to physicians.”
