Î Assess unit- or institution-specific barriers to hand hygiene with
frontline HCPs for the purpose of identifying interventions that will
be locally relevant (III).
Î Implement a multimodal strategy (or "bundle") for improving hand
hygiene adherence to directly address the organization's most
significant barriers (II).
• Use a bundled approach including enhanced access to ABHR, education,
reminders, feedback, and administrative support. This combination of
interventions has a significant collective impact on hand hygiene adherence.
• At a minimum, use a bundled approach including education, reminders,
and feedback.
Î Educate, motivate, and ensure competency of HCPs (anyone caring for
the patient on the institution's behalf) about proper hand hygiene (III).
• Educate HCPs through regular sessions at hire, when job functions change, and at
least annually.
▶ When possible use interactive means, such as fluorescing indicators, to
simulate hand contamination and subsequent removal, and visual reminders,
such as culture plates of hands or audience response systems, to keep the
audience engaged.
• Ensure competency of HCPs by testing knowledge of the indications for hand
hygiene and requiring demonstration of appropriate hand hygiene technique.
• Educate patients and families about hand hygiene on admission to healthcare
facilities and when changes in circumstances warrant. Encourage patients and
families to remind HCPs to clean their hands before care episodes.
• Motivate HCPs to perform hand hygiene using positive message framing for hand
hygiene messaging and posters.
• Use behavioral frameworks and recognized behavioral techniques to plan and
execute interventions.
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