The hand hygiene knowledge and competence of staff in an adult Intensive Care Unit (ICU) was measured at a 450 bed Australian metropolitan teaching hospital. Staff working in or entering the ICU to perform patient care over a two-month period were asked to complete a questionnaire that examined their knowledge on current hand hygiene policy and procedures. Hand hygiene practice was also assesse...

BACKGROUND Hand hygiene compliance is the basis of infection control programs. In developing countries models to improve hand hygiene compliance to reduce healthcare acquired infections are required. The aim of this study was to determine hand hygiene compliance following an educational program in an obstetric and gynecological hospital in Vietnam. METHODS Health care workers from neonatal in...

Background.  The use of electronic hand hygiene reminder systems has been proposed as an approach to improve hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers, although information on efficacy is limited. We prospectively assessed whether hand hygiene activities among healthcare workers could be increased using an electronic hand hygiene monitoring and reminder system. Methods.  A prospective co...

Objectives. As affirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO), hand hygiene is the most powerful preventive measure against healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) and, thus, it has become one of the five key elements of patient safety program. The aim is to assess the effect of implementation of the WHO's Multimodal Hand Hygiene Improvement Strategy among healthcare workers of a tertiary tea...

BACKGROUND Good hand hygiene is critical to reduce the risk of healthcare-associated infections. Limited data are available on hand hygiene practices from rural healthcare systems in China. AIM To assess the feasibility and acceptability of sanitizing hands with alcohol-based hand rubs (ABHRs) among Chinese village healthcare workers, and to assess their hand hygiene practice. METHODS Five ...

BACKGROUND Hand hygiene is essential to interrupting disease transmission in health care facilities. Multiple hand hygiene agents are currently available for use in the health care setting. To evaluate the utility of these agents, both the user acceptability and the efficacy need to be evaluated. Different hand hygiene test methodologies have been used to measure the efficacy of these agents, b...

BACKGROUND Health care-associated infection remains a significant hazard for hospitalized patients. Hand hygiene is a fundamental action for ensuring patient safety. OBJECTIVE To promote adoption of World Health Organization Hand Hygiene Guidelines to enhance compliance among doctors and nurses and improve patient safety. METHODS The study design was a cross sectional intervention in a Fede...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Wearing of gloves reduces transmission of organisms by healthcare workers' hands but is not a substitute for hand hygiene. Results of previous studies have varied as to whether hand hygiene is worse when gloves are worn. Most studies have been small and used nonstandardized assessments of glove use and hand hygiene. We sought to observe whether gloves were worn when app...