title: Electronic hand hygiene monitoring as a tool for reducing health care-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection.
abstract: Electronic monitoring of hand hygiene compliance using the World Health Organization's My 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene is a new innovation that has not yet been shown to reduce hospital infections. We analyzed existing data from 23 inpatient units over a 33-month period and found a significant correlation between unit-specific improvements in electronic monitoring compliance and reductions in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection rates (r = -0.37, P < .001).
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Greenville Health System, Greenville, SC. Electronic address: bkelly@ghs.org.
authors.forename: J William
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.affiliation: Department of Quality Management, Greenville Health System, Greenville, SC.
authors.forename: Dawn
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Blackhurst
authors.affiliation: Department of Infection Prevention and Control, Greenville Health System, Greenville, SC.
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: McAtee
authors.affiliation: Department of Infection Prevention and Control, Greenville Health System, Greenville, SC.
authors.forename: Connie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Steed
mesh_terms: D000067289:Behavior Observation Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004582:Electronics, Medical; D063373:Hand Hygiene / Q000379:methods*; D006268:Health Facilities; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*
keywords: Handwashing compliance; My 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene; electronic monitoring; methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus