title: Be seen and heard being clean: A novel patient-centered approach to hand hygiene.
abstract: A quasiexperimental pre- and posttest design was used to evaluate hand hygiene (HH) rates on a medical-surgical unit. Data were collected by asking patients if they had seen or heard staff members cleaning their hands. Sixty-five percent of patients reported seeing or hearing staff perform HH preintervention and 93% reported observations postintervention (P < .001). Through incorporating an auditory cue we engaged patients while removing the burden placed on them to question health care worker behavior, and increased both staff and patient awareness of personal HH behavior.
authors: Infection Prevention, Concord Hospital, Concord, NH. Electronic address: lcaine@crhc.org.
authors: Lynda Z
authors: LZ
authors: Caine
authors: Internal Medicine, Concord Hospital Medical Group, Concord, NH.
authors: Ashley M
authors: AM
authors: Pinkham
authors: Infectious Disease, Concord Hospital Medical Group, Concord, NH.
authors: James T
authors: JT
authors: Noble
mesh_terms: D000067289:Behavior Observation Techniques / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D063373:Hand Hygiene / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D010358:Patient Participation
keywords: Hand hygiene; Patient-as-observer; Quality improvement