"Hand hygiene is a vital tool in the prevention of nosocomial infections such as central line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) and catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs). This study implemented a two-level intervention centered on feedback and reminders of the importance of hand hygiene. The objective of this study was to increase hand hygiene compliance of healthcare workers to 70%, and to decrease CLABSI and CAUTI rates among inpatient units within a community hospital. Baseline data was collected from June 2016 to March 2017 and consisted of 1,991 hand hygiene observations. The two-level intervention was implemented over six weeks when 3,438 hand hygiene observations were recorded. After the first five weeks of the original intervention, and additional feedback component added to the sixth week, there was a significant increase in hand hygiene compliance, from an average rate of 53% (November 2016 to March 2017) to 65% after six weeks (p-value < 0.0001). Based on the results of this study, the odds of compliance are 1.17 (95% CI: 1.10-1.25) times higher for every two weeks of additional the intervention time, controlling for healthcare worker type and for hospital unit. There were ultimately too few CLABSI and CAUTI infection cases to analyze. However, the significant increase in hand hygiene compliance in just over a month's time, concomitant with weekly feedback and daily reminders for healthcare workers who are in regular and frequent contact with patients could potentially provide infection prevention units with knowledge to help them reach their infection prevention targets."--Page ii.
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