Hand Hygiene Compliance Can Be Improved With a Multimodal Strategy
MartÃn-Madrazo, et al. (2012) sought to evaluate the effectiveness of a multimodal intervention in primary-care health professionals for improved compliance with hand hygiene practice, based on the World Health Organizations 5 Moments for Health Hygiene. The cluster randomized trial, parallel two-group study was conducted among 11 healthcare centers with 198 healthcare workers in primary healthcare centers in Madrid, Spain.
The multimodal hand hygiene improvement strategy consisted of training of healthcare workers by teaching sessions, implementation of hydroalcoholic solutions, and installation of reminder posters. The hand hygiene compliance level was evaluated by observation during regular care activities in the office visit setting, at the baseline moment, and six months after the intervention, all by a single external observer. The overall baseline compliance level was 8.1 percent, and the healthcare workers of the intervention group increased their hand hygiene compliance level by 21.6 percent compared with the control group.
The researchers conclude that hand hygiene compliance in primary healthcare workers can be improved with a multimodal hand hygiene improvement strategy.
Reference: MartÃn-Madrazo C, et al. Cluster Randomized Trial to Evaluate the Effect of a Multimodal Hand Hygiene Improvement Strategy in Primary Care. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. Vol. 33, No. 7; pp. 681-688. July 2012.
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