Hand Hygiene

• Implementation Examples
• Getting Patients Involved
• Sources for Posters, Buttons, Etc.
• WHO: Save Lives: Clean Your Hands

Hand hygiene is the primary measure to prevent health care-associated infection.

According to McGuckin Methods International, the following are the expected number of “hand hygiene events” (HHE). This statistic can be used to track hand hygiene compliance through soap and hand sanitizer consumption. Their measurements show an average compliance rate (Q1 2009) of 39% in ICUs and 32% in non-ICUs.

ICU	144 HHE/bed-day
Non-ICU	72 HHE/bed-day
Pediatrics	72 HHE/bed-day
Rehab/Long Term Care	20 HHE/bed-day
ED/Outpatient	6 HHE/visit
Clinic	3 HHE/visit

Implementation Examples

Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center

Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center recently filmed a music video that features employees washing their hands to the tune of the popular Beatles song “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”

The song, “I’m Gonna Wash My Hands,” is performed by The Bluz Dogz, a local band featuring Dr. Harold Segal and Sierra Vista nurses Linda Martin and Bud McCabe. The lyrics encourage people to wash their hands to help stop the spread of infection. Nathan Nybakke, Director of Radiology, filmed the music video at the hospital, which features employees from all over the facility.

The video kicks off Sierra Vista’s “Clean Hands — Clean Environment” hand-washing campaign. Light pole banners were also hung to remind visitors about the importance of washing their hands as a way of controlling infections and contributing to their overall health.

 

Novant Health

A complete set of hand hygiene campaign materials is available at no cost. The source files are provided and include provisions for custom branding with either Adobe InDesign or Acrobat. There are posters, banners, mirror decals, billboards, tray liners, yard signs and computer wallpapers and screensavers.

Infection Control Today

This publication assembled hand hygiene compliance strategies from its readers.

University of Geneva Hospitals

Professor Didier Pittet, Director, Infection Control Programme, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, is also the External Programme Lead, WHO First Global Patient Safety Challenge: Clean Care is Safer Care. His institution, the University of Geneva, has several resources for hand hygiene and a video for hand hygiene education.

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Getting Patients Involved

Centers for Disease Control

The Centers for Disease Control developed a patient admission video and posters for free use.

The patient admission video is available in English, and Spanish. Modeled after the video that airline passengers are required to view prior to take-off on a flight, this video is intended to be shown to patients upon admission to the hospital. The goal is that the video will inform patients at the beginning of their hospital stay about what they can do to help prevent infections throughout the duration of their stay.

McGuckin Methods International

McGuckin sells materials for a patient empowerment program in hand hygiene.

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Sources for Posters, Buttons, Etc.

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WHO: Save Lives: Clean Your Hands

The World Health Organiation has an active hand hygiene campaign. Complete information is at www.who.int/gpsc/5may/en/index.html.

WHO hand hygiene campaign promotional video.

WHO hand hygiene self-assessment framework. The Framework is a tool intended to:

• assess the level of progress of health-care facilities with regards to infrastructures, resources, actions, commitment and achievements, in order to ensure optimal hand hygiene practices;
• facilitate development of an action plan for facilities’ hand hygiene improvement programs; and
• identify key issues requiring attention and improvement and to document progress over time through the repeated use of the Framework.

The World Health Organization (WHO) now has an extensive library of materials to support your efforts to improve hand hygiene, including tools for system change, training and education, evaluation and feedback, workplace reminders, and institutional safety climate. The following table presents their many tools in a convenient format: green boxes identify which tools are relevant to which aspect of the program.

	System Change	Public Advocacy	Training and Education	Evaluation and Feedback	Workplace Reminders	Institutional Safety Climate
WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care (revised August 2009)
WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care: Summary (new, August 2009)
Guide to implementation of the WHO multimodal hand hygiene improvement strategy (revised August 2009)
Template Action Plan
Ward Infrastructure Survey (revised August 2009)
Alcohol-based Handrub Planning and Costing Tool (revised March 2010)
Guide to Local Production: WHO-recommended Handrub Formulations (revised April 2010)
Soap / Handrub Consumption Survey (revised August 2009)
Protocol for Evaluation of Tolerability and Acceptability of Alcohol-based Handrub in Use or Planned to be Introduced: Method 1 (revised August 2009)
Protocol for Evaluation and Comparision of Tolerability and Acceptability of Different Alcohol-based Handrubs: Method 2 (revised August 2009)
Public Briefing Kit
Your 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene Poster
Your 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene Poster — Chair Image
How to Handrub Poster
How to Handwash Poster
Hand Hygiene When and How Leaflet (revised August 2009)
Clean Your Hands Screensaver
Clean Your Hands Promotional Video
Clean Your Hands Promotional Video in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, or Spanish
Slides for the Hand Hygiene Co-ordinator (revised August 2009)
Slides for Education Sessions for Trainers, Observers and Health-care Workers (revised August 2009)
Hand Hygiene Training Film and Slides Accompanying the Training Film (revised August 2009)
Hand Hygiene Technical Reference Manual (for monitoring hand hygiene)
Observation Form (for monitoring hand hygiene) (revised August 2009)
Hand Hygiene Why, How and When Brochure (revised August 2009)
Glove Use Information Leaflet (revised August 2009)
Frequently-asked Questions on Hand Hygiene (revised May 2010)
Key Scientific Publications (revised August 2009)
Sustaining Improvement – Additional Activities for Consideration by Heath-Care Facilities (revised August 2009)
Perception Survey for Health-Care Workers (revised August 2009)
Perception Survey for Senior Managers (revised August 2009)
Hand Hygiene Knowledge Questionnaire for Health-Care Workers (revised August 2009)
Data Entry Analysis Tools: • Consumption Survey • Health Care Workers Knowledge • Health Care Workers Perception • Ward Infrastructure • Senior Manager Perception • Observation • Handrub Tolerability
Instructions for Data Entry and Analysis, Using Epi Info™
Data Summary Report Framework
Template Letter to Advocate Hand Hygiene to Managers (revised August 2009)
Template Letter to Communicate Hand Hygiene Initiatives to Managers (revised August 2009)
Guidance on Engaging Patients and Patient Organizations in Hand Hygiene Initiatives (revised August 2009)
Sustaining Improvement – Additional Activities for Consideration by Heath-Care Facilities (revised August 2009)

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