Presentations

Abstract

Introduction:

The emphasis on hand hygiene (HH) in the setting of healthcare has been commonplace for over a century. In 1846, Ignaz Semmelweis observed that child deliveries performed by midwives who washed their hands displayed a significantly lower mortality rate than physicians who did not. Since then, rules and regulations for handwashing have been implemented in healthcare facilities to enhance the safety of patient and provider alike. Today, hospitals have gone to great lengths to measure the frequency and quality of HH in medical professionals. Across Norfolk's Children's Hospital of The King's Daughter (CHKD), the "Wonder Washers" automated HH system has been installed to track how frequently medical professionals are taking advantage of HH opportunities using Bluetooth technology. In this study, we set out to assess the accuracy and validity of the Wonder Washers system as well as observe and improve the overall quality of HH amongst health care professionals within CHKD. 

Methods:

We learned the standard CHKD job instructions for both Purell and soap HH. Using a discrete observation approach, we rounded throughout the hospital and recorded data on unit, job role, whether the professional was entering or exiting the room, the method of HH, correctness of the HH, and any comments related to the quality of HH. Data was collected from day and night shifts to ensure proper coverage of all hospital shifts to increase sample size and diversity.

Results:

The data collected was organized and visualized both graphically and in tabular format given the wide variety of variables we observed. When looking at the total data (day and night shift), ~50% of all HH observations were performed correctly with the majority of those seen in the ED from RNs coming out of patient rooms with Purell as their HH method.

Conclusion:

This data suggests that there is significant room for improvement within CHKD regarding HH. Further analysis will be done to validate that the Wonder Washers system is recording statistically similar data as our manual observations. Quality of HH is best improved by real time intervention and would require "just in time" feedback to be successful.