Elsevier

Healthcare infection

Volume 17, Issue 4, December 2012, Pages 115-121
Healthcare infection

Development of a standardised approach to observing hand hygiene compliance in Australia

https://doi.org/10.1071/HI12022Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

Evidence indicates that improved hand hygiene compliance can lead to reductions in healthcare associated infection. However, there are few papers that clearly document the observation method used to collect the hand hygiene compliance data. This article describes the Hand Hygiene Australia 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene observation method in detail.

Methods

The Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Health Care funded Hand Hygiene Australia (HHA) to implement the National Hand Hygiene Initiative (NHHI) to improve hand hygiene compliance (HHC) and establish a national validated system of HHC auditing. Based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) World Alliance for Patient Safety campaign ‘Clean Care is Safer Care’, HHA adapted the WHO hand hygiene compliance data collection form to suit Australian healthcare facilities.

Results

Hand Hygiene Australia developed a standardised approach to direct observation of HHC of healthcare workers by developing a uniform suite of tools and a data management system for accurate data collection and report generation.

Conclusion

Implementation of the HHA 5 Moments HHC audit method has facilitated standardised, reliable and meaningful collection of hand hygiene compliance data that is driving HHC improvement across many different healthcare settings around Australia.

References (19)

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Cited by (7)

  • Effects of the Australian National Hand Hygiene Initiative after 8 years on infection control practices, health-care worker education, and clinical outcomes: a longitudinal study

    2018, The Lancet Infectious Diseases
    Citation Excerpt :

    Subsequently, as the NHHI moved from the implementation into the maintenance phase, it was the responsibility of each state and territory to carry out gold-standard workshops with the assistance of Hand Hygiene Australia, thereby embedding training responsibility within each jurisdiction's health-care structure; however, Hand Hygiene Australia retained responsibility for private hospitals. The training required to become a validated auditor has been summarised,10 and the number of auditor workshops and health-care workers trained annually was analysed to provide an estimate of organisational activity. Auditing of hand hygiene compliance was undertaken as previously described,4,9 with the number of Moments required to be submitted by each health service defined by the number of acute inpatient beds to allow meaningful comparisons.9

  • Self-reported behaviors and perceptions of Australian paramedics in relation to hand hygiene and gloving practices in paramedic-led health care

    2017, American Journal of Infection Control
    Citation Excerpt :

    This in turn could lead to a rigorous infield observational audit process to assist with improving IPC compliance by paramedics. HHA provides an audit tool for compliance with hand hygiene moments, but it is not recommended for use outside of Australian acute health care facilities.31,61 A similar audit tool for hand hygiene and gloving practices in Australian paramedicine needs to be developed.

  • Reflection on observation: A qualitative study using practice development methods to explore the experience of being a hand hygiene auditor in Australia

    2015, American Journal of Infection Control
    Citation Excerpt :

    Doran et al,24 describing a multifaceted hand hygiene campaign implemented in several health care facilities in Boston, identified feedback of data in a timely manner as one of the main contributors to a significant and sustained improvement in hand hygiene compliance. The need for feedback to health care workers being observed by hand hygiene auditors also has been described by Sax et al7 and others25-27 as an important and necessary component of an effective monitoring program. The present study confirms the need for auditors to receive feedback on their own involvement in the program, not only feedback to the teams being audited.

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