Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

24 Hand Hygiene A lthough hospitals in the U.S. have im- proved hand hygiene overall, the level of adoption of hand hygiene safe practices varies significantly from state to state, according to a new report by The Leapfrog Group. The report is based on data taken from the 2014 Leapfrog Hospital Survey of 1,501 U.S. hospitals and analyzed by Castlight Health. It examines how many hospitals meet all 10 of Leapfrog's hand hygiene practices. To name a few, Leapfrog's practices include hav- ing hospitalwide hand hygiene education and training, submitting hand hygiene recommenda- tions and results to the hospital board, holding clinical leadership accountable for compliance and implementing performance improvement programs. Highlighted below are the states with highest per- centage of hospitals meeting all hand hygiene safe practices. 1. Oregon — 100 percent 2. New Jersey — 94 percent 3. Florida — 93 percent 4. Nevada — 93 percent 5. Tennessee — 90 percent Here are the states with lowest percentage of hos- pitals meeting all hand hygiene safe practices. 1. Wyoming — 44 percent 2. Wisconsin — 45 percent 3. Arizona — 50 percent 4. New Mexico — 50 percent 5. Missouri — 59 percent n Which States' Hospitals Have the Best, Worst Hand Hygiene Practices? By Shannon Barnet Gamification Yields 'Significant Improvement' in Nurse Hand Hygiene Compliance By Max Green U sing game thinking and mechanics in a non-game con- text, such as in a hospital or at a patient's bedside, may be a way to measurably improve hand hygiene compliance, according to a study published in Antimicrobial Resistance & Infec- tion Control. Researchers placed beacons at specific points of hand hygiene, such as alcohol-based rub containers, sinks and patient bedsides. These bea- cons interacted with a wearable device placed on nurses' outfits that detected and measured proximity to the beacons. The study concludes that while the impact of gamification on hand hygiene compliance is still under evaluation, the results shows "sig- nificant improvements" in nurses' awareness. The nurses who partici- pated in the research said they recognized it as a valuable measure to improve hand hygiene compliance and performance. n Automated Training System Improves Hand Hygiene Technique, but Not Compliance By Shannon Barnet H ealthcare workers improved their hand-washing technique by using an automated hand hygiene training system in one study published in the American Journal of Infection Control. In the study, nearly 800 medical and nursing staff members at an Australian tertiary hospital volunteered to participate in the study. Participants were instructed to place their hands under a video camera as they mimicked each of the seven World Health Organization-recommend- ed hand hygiene poses. The video used gaming technology to track the mo- tion of dry hands mimicking the poses. Automated feedback from the system found 77 percent of participants passed pose 1 (palm to palm), the highest pass rate, while pose six (clean thumbs) had the lowest pass rate at 27 percent. Additionally, 86 percent expressed a high level of satisfaction with the automated training system. Despite the positive feedback, the hospital saw little change in hand hy- giene compliance rates after the introduction of the system. Ultimately, the researchers concluded the system plays an important educational role, but not a compliance improvement role. n

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