title: Patient Attitudes and Participation in Hand Co-Washing in an Outpatient Clinic Before and After a Prompt.
abstract: Despite recent national emphasis, outpatient hand washing can be less than optimal. We tested a new approach involving both patient and physician hand washing. The study consisted of 384 questionnaires, 184 from phase 1 and 200 from phase 2. Patients stated doctors washed their hands 96.6% before examining them pre-intervention and 99.5% of the time post-intervention. Patients endorsed the importance of hand washing 98.7% of the time. "Co-washing" may offer a process to increase the practice of hand washing and decrease infection risk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia doyleg@wvumedicine.org.
authors.forename: Gregory A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Doyle
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.
authors.forename: Hina
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zaman
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.
authors.forename: Holli
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Neiman-Hart
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maroon
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.
authors.forename: Elham
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Arghami
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.
authors.forename: Hina
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Durani
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.
authors.forename: Hari
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Salana
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.
authors.forename: Venugopal
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Komakula
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.
authors.forename: Dana E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: King
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006235:Hand Disinfection; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010358:Patient Participation; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014903:West Virginia
keywords: hand washing; infection control; quality improvement