Introduction / objectives Although hand hygiene (HH) is known to be the single most important factor to reduce healthcare acquired infections, studies of HH compliance in health care workers (HCWs) has been reported to be between 3050%. Physician HH compliance is consistently lower than other HCWs. Whether the physician group is homogeneous with regard to HH compliance is uncertain. This study ...

We read with great interest the study by Traore and coauthors, comparing an alcohol hand gel with a liquid hand hygiene formulation in an intensive care unit [1]. The authors reported better user acceptability for the gel. Compliance for both formulations was significantly better (P = 0.035) when healthcare workers had easy access to hand rubs, but the difference in compliance between the gel a...

Protective isolation denotes a range of practices used to protect immunocompromised hospital patients from infection. The decision to institute protective isolation will be made as part of an individualized plan of care, taking into account the reason for, the nature, degree and expected duration of immunosuppression of the affected person. This article examines protective isolation, when it mi...

We pilot tested a novel human factors-informed concept to identify infectious risk moments (IRMs) that occur with high frequency during routine intensive care. Following 30 observation-hours, 28 potential IRMs related to hand hygiene, gloves, and objects were expert rated. A comprehensive IRM inventory may provide valuable taxonomy for research, training, and intervention.

The purpose of this article was to describe the successful implementation of a quality improvement initiative focusing on a hand hygiene program that used the multimodal interventions of tailored education, monthly feedback, and reminders. Compliance rates improved from July 2011 to December 2012 by 57.4%. Efforts are continuing to ensure program sustainability.