title: Does hand hygiene compliance among health care workers change when patients are in contact precaution rooms in ICUs?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hand hygiene compliance rates among health care workers (HCW) rarely exceed 50%. Contact precautions are thought to increase HCWs' hand hygiene awareness. We sought to determine any differences in hand hygiene compliance rates for HCW between patients in contact precaution and those not in any isolation.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a hospital's medical (MICU) and surgical (SICU) intensive care units, a trained observer directly observed hand hygiene by the type of room (contact precaution or noncontact precaution) and the type of HCW (nurse or doctor).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The SICU had similar compliance rates (36/75 [50.7%] in contact precaution rooms vs 223/431 [51.7%] compliance in noncontact precaution rooms, P > .5); the MICU also had similar hand hygiene compliance rates (67/132 [45.1%] in contact precaution rooms vs 96/213 [50.8%] in noncontact precaution rooms, P > .10). Hand hygiene compliance rates stratified by HCW were similar with 1 exception. The MICU nurses had a higher rate of hand hygiene compliance in contact precaution rooms than in rooms with noncontact precautions (66.7% vs 51.6%, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compliance with hand hygiene among HCWs did not differ between contact precaution rooms and rooms with noncontact precautions with the exception of the nurses in the MICU.
authors.affiliation: Atlanta Veterans' Affairs Medical Center, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Kirven
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gilbert
authors.forename: Cortney
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stafford
authors.forename: Kali
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Crosby
authors.forename: Edna
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fleming
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gaynes
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006235:Hand Disinfection / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D009726:Nurses; D010356:Patient Isolation / Q000379:methods; D010820:Physicians