Good hand hygiene is critical to preventing the spread of infection at home and in healthcare settings. Unfortunately, even some healthcare professionals are not aware of hand hygiene best practices and its role in preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).
We’ve compiled some talking points around hand hygiene for those struggling to communicate the importance of hand hygiene to their staff, or anyone who wants to learn more about what they can do to help keep themselves and others healthy.
What is hand hygiene?
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), “Hand hygiene is a way of cleaning one’s hands that substantially reduces potential pathogens (harmful microorganisms) on the hands. Hand hygiene is considered a primary measure for reducing the risk of transmitting infection among patients and health care personnel. Hand hygiene procedures include the use of alcohol-based hand rubs (containing 60%–95% alcohol) and hand washing with soap and water.”
Importance of hand hygiene
Good hand hygiene is critical to preventing infection and keeping both staff and patients healthy.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Hands are the main pathways of germ transmission during health care. Hand hygiene is therefore the most important measure to avoid the transmission of harmful germs and prevent health care-associated infections.”
For example, good hand hygiene is important in preventing site infections like catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) and central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI). Healthcare providers who do not follow hand hygiene best practices prior to handling equipment like catheters and central lines can easily transfer germs from their hands to the site and infect patients.
Other infections, like C.diff bacteria, linger on high-touch surfaces that can be passed from provider to patient if they do not practice hygiene before care. Failure to practice good hand hygiene between patient rooms can exacerbate the issue further and lead to outbreaks.
The cost of treating these HAIs is substantial, and outbreaks can damage the public’s perception of the healthcare setting. According to a report by R. Douglas Scott II for the CDC, “Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in hospitals impose significant economic consequences on the nation’s healthcare system….While there is considerable variability in the costs of HAI, the low cost estimates of $5.7 to $6.8 billion annually are still substantial when compared to the cost of inpatient stays for other medical conditions.”
Hand hygiene facts
- Germs can survive for up to three hours on your hands. (source)
- Washing hands with soap and water is the best way to get rid of germs in most situations. If soap and water are not readily available, you can use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. (source)
- Hand hygiene helps stop the spread of germs, including ones that can cause antibiotic-resistant infections. (source)
- When handwashing you should scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. (source)
- Germs can be transferred more easily to and from wet hands; therefore, hands should be dried after washing. (source)
- Handwashing with soap could protect about 1 out of every 3 young children who get sick with diarrhea 2, 3 and almost 1 out of 5 young children with respiratory infections like pneumonia. (source)
- CDC recommends the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers as the primary method for hand hygiene in most healthcare situations. (source)
Hand hygiene compliance rates
Despite the importance of hand hygiene, the average compliance rate is below 40%.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Insufficient or very low compliance rates have been reported from both developed and developing countries. Adherence of HCWs [health care workers] to recommended hand hygiene procedures has been reported as variable, with mean baseline rates ranging from 5% to 89% and an overall average of 38.7%”
Barriers to hand hygiene compliance
There are a number of potential barriers to hand hygiene compliance. According to the Journal of Hospital Infection, the “most frequently observed factors determining poor hand hygiene compliance are:
- (i) belonging to a certain professional category (i.e. doctor, nursing assistant, physiotherapist, technician);
- (ii) working in specific care areas (i.e. intensive care, surgery, anaesthesiology, emergency medicine);
- (iii) understaffing and overcrowding; and
- (iv) wearing gowns and/or gloves.”
Hand hygiene compliance monitoring
One of the ways healthcare settings can overcome these barriers to hand hygiene is to implement hand hygiene compliance monitoring. According to the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, “Auditing hand hygiene compliance by health care providers provides a benchmark for improvement. The results of observation audits will help identify the most appropriate interventions for hand hygiene education, training and promotion.”
In the past many hospitals have relied on manual auditing of their hand hygiene compliance, but these methods can be costly, time-consuming, and prone to human error. They are also difficult to carry out due to the sheer number of hand hygiene events that occur each day. A mid-size hospital, for example, has more than 10,000 hand hygiene opportunities every day. Yet a 200-bed hospital might only conduct 1,000-2,000 direct observations/year.
Effectively measuring and controlling a process of this magnitude requires the assistance of technology, like an electronic hand hygiene compliance monitoring system. With these systems, captured hand hygiene events can increase to 18,000 a day or 6.5M events a year, and provide healthcare leaders with valuable data that drive improvements to better hand hygiene compliance. This is especially important for hospitals collecting data about hand hygiene compliance for a Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, which has certain observation requirements that are difficult to meet with manual auditing.
For more information on how to improve hand hygiene compliance and awareness, download our whitepaper.