Joint Commission Seeks Examples of Hand Hygiene Measurement Methods

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. -- The Joint Commission is seeking comprehensive, innovative and cost effective hand hygiene measurement methods that address adherence to hand hygiene guidelines to share with healthcare organizations throughout the world, as part of its Consensus Measurement in Hand Hygiene (CMHH) project.

The proven strategies identified through this initiative will be published in a free, educational monograph that recommends promising practices for measuring hand hygiene compliance.  The monograph, planned for publication in early 2008, will be the culmination of an 18-month project by the Joint Commission in collaboration with the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the World Health Organization (WHO) World Alliance for Patient Safety, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID).

Measuring compliance with hand hygiene practices during the delivery of care has long been complicated because of the resources needed to monitor the practices of many different care providers in numerous locations for meaningful periods of time.  The absence of  standardized approaches to measuring hand hygiene performance makes it impossible to determine whether overall performance is improving, deteriorating or staying unchanged as new strategic interventions are introduced.

Examples of promising practices for measuring compliance with hand hygiene guidelines are being sought from across a variety of settings, including hospitals, ambulatory care, home care, long term care, and behavioral health.  Organizations submitting examples are asked to include supporting documentation, such as published studies or summaries of results regarding the use of the method, as well as a sample of data in the manner it is displayed (i.e., charts or graphs).

Submissions will be confidentially reviewed by an expert panel under the direction of Professor Elaine Larson of Columbia University.  If the expert panel determines that a submitted example has potential value to other healthcare facilities, the organization will be contacted for additional information and permission to include it in the monograph.

Examples may be submitted electronically at: http://www.jointcommission.org/AccreditationPrograms/hand_hygiene, or by mail to: Linda Kusek, Division of Research, The Joint Commission, One Renaissance Boulevard, Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., 60181, or via fax to: 630-792-4616. 

The project is funded by an unrestricted educational grant from GOJO Industries.

 Source: Joint Commission