Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T02:38:37.978Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effect of Varying the Number and Location of Alcohol-Based Hand Rub Dispensers on Usage in a General Inpatient Medical Unit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Benjamin P. Chan*
Affiliation:
Infectious Disease and International Health, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire Leadership and Preventive Medicine Residency Program, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire
Karen Homa
Affiliation:
Leadership and Preventive Medicine Residency Program, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire
Kathryn B. Kirkland
Affiliation:
Infectious Disease and International Health, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire Leadership and Preventive Medicine Residency Program, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire
*
Section of Infectious Disease and International Health, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, One Medical Center Drive, Lebanon, NH 03756-0001 ([email protected])

Abstract

We sequentially increased the number of wall-mounted alcohol-based hand rub dispensers in a small medical unit to evaluate effects on hand hygiene performance. Above a certain point, addition of more dispensers did not increase hand hygiene frequency, which appeared to be influenced more by location than by total number of dispensers.

Type
Concise Communication
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Pittet, D, Hugonnet, S, Harbarth, S, et al.Effectiveness of a hospital-wide programme to improve compliance with hand hygiene. Lancet 2000;356:13071312.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2.Trick, WE, Vernon, MO, Welbel, SF, Demarais, P, Hayden, MK, Weinstein, RA; Chicago Antimicrobial Resistance Project. Multicenter intervention program to increase adherence to hand hygiene recommendations and glove use and to reduce the incidence of antimicrobial resistance. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2007;28:4249.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Guideline for hand hygiene in health-care settings: recommendations of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee and the HICPAC/SHEA/APIC/IDSA Hand Hygiene Task Force. MMWR Recomm Rep 2002;51(RR-16):15.Google Scholar
4.Rupp, ME, Fitzgerald, R, Puumala, S, et al.Prospective, controlled, cross-over trial of alcohol-based hand gel in critical care units. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2008;29:815.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.Bischoff, WE, Reynolds, TM, Sessler, CN, Edmond, MB, Wenzel, RP. Hand washing compliance by health care workers: the impact of introducing an accessible, alcohol-based hand antiseptic. Arch Intern Med 2000;160:10171021.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6.Thomas, BW, Berg-Copas, GM, Vasquez, DG, Jackson, BL, Wetta-Hall, R. Conspicuous vs customary location of hand hygiene agent dispensers on alcohol-based hand hygiene product usage in an intensive care unit. J Am Osteopath Assoc 2009;109:263267.Google Scholar
7.Kaplan, LM, McGuckin, M. Increasing handwashing compliance with more accessible sinks. Infect Control 1986;7:408410.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8.Boyce, JM, Cooper, T, Dolan, MJ. Evaluation of an electronic device for real-time measurement of alcohol-based hand rub use. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2009;30:10901095.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9.Sax, H, Allegranzi, B, Uckay, I, Larson, E, Boyce, J, Pittet, D. “My five moments for hand hygiene”: a user-centered design approach to understand, train, monitor and report hand hygiene. J Hosp Infect 2007;67:921.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Boyce, JM, Cooper, T, Arbogast, JW, et al.Use of electronic devices to detect changes in hand hygiene frequency during the early H INI influenza outbreak and during a trial of a new alcohol hand sanitizer formulation. Presented at: Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) Fifth Decennial International Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections; March 19, 2010; Atlanta, GA. Abstract 270.Google Scholar