• Mirjam Tromp, Anita Huis, Inge de Guchteneire, Jos van der Meer, Theo van Achterberg, Marlies Hulscher, and Chantal Bleeker-Rovers.
• Nijmegen Institute for Infection, Inflammation, and Immunity (N4i), Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, The Netherlands. m.tromp@aig.umcn.nl
• Am J Infect Control. 2012 Oct 1;40(8):732-6.

BackgroundAlthough hand hygiene (HH) compliance has been an important issue for years, the compliance rate is still a problem in health care today.MethodsThis was an observational, prospective, before-and-after study. We measured HH knowledge and HH compliance before (baseline), directly after (poststrategy), and 6 months after the performance of HH team strategies (follow-up). The study was composed of employed nurses and physicians working in the department of internal medicine of a university hospital. We performed a multifaceted improvement program including HH education, feedback, reminders, social influence activities including the use of role models, and improvement of HH facilities.ResultsNinety-two nurses and physicians were included. Compared with baseline, there was a significant improvement in the overall mean HH knowledge score at poststrategy (from 7.4 to 8.4) and follow-up (from 7.4 to 8.3). The overall HH compliance was 27% at baseline, 83% at poststrategy, and 75% at follow-up. At baseline, the compliance rate was 17% in nurses and 43% in physicians and significantly improved to 63% in nurses and 91% in physicians at follow-up.ConclusionOur multifaceted HH improvement program resulted in a sustained improvement of HH knowledge and compliance in nurses as well as physicians.Copyright © 2012 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

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