Hand Hygiene In Primary Care Clinics

The next steps with the hand hygiene campaign at Denver Health Primary Care Clinics include:

* The completion of the HH self-learning packet is now mandated for annual competency review for all employees.

* To mitigate the Hawthorne effect from use of surveyors who were clearly identified as being in the clinic for that reason only, each clinic is identifying a staff member(s) to do the quarterly hand hygiene surveillance.

* Quarterly hand hygiene surveillance will continue in all clinics.

* Those clinics with 100% compliance will continue regular quarterly reviews.

* Clinics with less than 100% compliance will have focused education and inservices on hand hygiene, and will participate in "spot checks" occurring randomly until a compliance level of 100% is attained.

With increased agency-wide media attention, hand hygiene is now an expectation in all environments at Denver Health and Hospital Authority. The Hand Hygiene Campaign included system-wide screen savers on all computers describing HH activities and a contest for slogan-creation encouraging the use of hand sanitizers. These slogans were then placed above the new alcohol-based foam dispensers. There was also a poster campaign during National Nurses Week and during National Hospital and Healthcare Week.

References

Boyce, J.M., & Pittet, D. (2002, October 25). Guideline for hand hygiene in the health care setting. MMWR, 51(RR16), 22. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cockshut, L. (Ed.). (2004). Meeting ICAHO's infection control requirements (p.18). Oakbrook Terrace, IL: joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).

DH-CHS Infection Control Team. (2005). Hand hygiene: Viva la foam. Denver, CO: Denver Health and Hospital Authority.

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). (2006a). National patient safety goals. Retrieved May 5, 2006, from http://www.jointcommission.org/PatientSafety/NationalPatientSafetyGoals/npsg_intro.htm Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). (2006b). Speak Up initiatives: Infection control. Retrieved May 5, 2006, from http://www.jointcommission.org/ GeneralPublic/Speak+Up/about_speakup.htm

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). (2006c). 2006 national patient safety goals. Retrieved May 5, 2006, from http://www.jointcommission.org/GeneralPublic/NPSG/06_gp_npsg.htm

Additional Reading

Didier, P. (2001). Improving adherence to hand hygiene practice: A multidisciplinary approach. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 7(2). Retrieved May 8, 2006, from, http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vo17no2/pittet.htm

Kenneth L. Stiefvater, BSN, RN

Cathy Vigil, RN

Karen L. Jones, MS, RNC, CNS

Jeanne M. Yocke, MS, RN

Kenneth L. Stiefvater, BSN, RN, is the CHS Infection Control Coordinator, Denver Health Community Health Services, Denver, CO.

Cathy Vigil, RN, is the DH Infection Control Coordinator, Denver Health Community Health Services, Denver, CO.

Karen L. Jones, MS, RNC, CNS, is the Director of Education, Denver Health Community Health Services, Denver, CO.