Sustained Improvement in Hand Hygiene Compliance Using a Decentralized, Technology-Based Approach

Abstract Background We aimed to use weekly PI calls in conjunction with 24/7 hand hygiene monitoring technology (HHMT) to engage front-line Intensive Care Unit (ICUs) clinicians in improving Hand Hygiene (HH) compliance Methods HHMT is used to monitor aggregate, unit-based HH compliance in real time and displayed on monitors at the nursing stations at our academic medical center. After installation and validation were completed, unit-based teams of nursing and physician leadership joined weekly 15-minute HH PI calls to discuss their previous week’s compliance rate, next steps in their own PI plan, and share successes and failures. Calls were suspended for 6 months and restarted in early 2017. Results Graph representation of weekly HH compliance rates for the ICUs are shown in figure 1. Units AandB underwent physical moves during the break, Unit C had no change, and Unit D moved and consolidated with other ICUs constituting a major change in personnel and patient population. Each ICU participated in 84 calls and recorded approx. 50,000–100,000 HH opportunities during each month resulting in over 8 million opportunities for HH compliance recorded during the call-in periods. Unit A had an average compliance of 39% for the first 4 weeks of calls and 64% during the same 4 week period one year later (P < 0.0001). After 6 months without the calls, HH compliance was 48% (P < 0.0001 compared with baseline compliance) and unit A implemented 20 separate PI interventions over the course of the calls. Compliance was also significantly improved (P < 0.0001 for all comparison to baseline) for units B, C, and D (Unit B: 42% baseline, 71% at 1 year, 67% after the break, 23 interventions; Unit C: 54% baseline, 58% at 1 year, 59% after the break, 19 interventions; Unit D: 41% at baseline, 56% after 1 year, 49% after the break, 19 interventions). Attendance was >90% for nursing leadership and