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Updated: Jun 15, 2026

A Method to Test the Efficacy of Handwashing for the Removal of Emerging Infectious Pathogens
Published on: June 7, 2017
Technical note: Assessment of blinding of hand hygiene observers in randomized controlled trials of hand hygiene
Chris Fuller1, Sarah Besser, Barry D Cookson
1Research Department of Infection and Population Health, University College London, Hampstead Campus, London, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Trials evaluating interventions to improve health care workers' hand hygiene compliance use directly observed compliance as a primary outcome measure. Observers should be blinded to the intervention and the effectiveness of blinding assessed to prevent systematic bias. The literature has not addressed this issue, and this study describes a robust and pragmatic method for assessing the adequacy of blinding in hand hygiene intervention trials.
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