Comparing brief, covert, directly observed hand hygiene compliance monitoring to standard methods: A multicenter cohort study

Alissa Werzen; Kerri A Thom; Gwen L Robinson; Shanshan Li; Clare Rock; Loreen A Herwaldt; Daniel J Diekema; Heather S Reisinger; Eli N Perencevich

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2018.08.015

Comparing brief, covert, directly observed hand hygiene compliance monitoring to standard methods: A multicenter cohort study

Am J Infect Control. 2019 Mar;47(3):346-348. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2018.08.015. Epub 2018 Oct 10.

Authors

Alissa Werzen¹, Kerri A Thom², Gwen L Robinson¹, Shanshan Li³, Clare Rock⁴, Loreen A Herwaldt⁵, Daniel J Diekema⁵, Heather S Reisinger⁵, Eli N Perencevich⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.
² Department of Epidemiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD. Electronic address: kthom@som.umaryland.edu.
³ MassMutual Data Science, Springfield, MA.
⁴ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.
⁵ University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa.

Abstract

Hand hygiene compliance is subject to the Hawthorne effect, which may be attenuated by covert observers and brief observation periods. This study demonstrated that hand hygiene compliance rates were between 8% and 29% greater when reported by infection prevention programs than when reported by covert observers over brief observation periods.

Keywords: Compliance monitoring; Hand Hygiene; Infection prevention.

Publication types

Multicenter Study
Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Effect Modifier, Epidemiologic
Guideline Adherence / statistics & numerical data*
Hand Hygiene / methods*
Health Personnel*
Humans
Infection Control / methods*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding