Hand hygiene compliance in Penang, Malaysia: Human audits versus product usage

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Infection Control
• Public Health

Background:

• Mandatory hand hygiene auditing in Malaysian public hospitals faces sustainability challenges due to the auditing burden.
• Current human auditing methods for hand hygiene compliance suffer from decreased validity and reliability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate alcohol-based handrub purchase data as a proxy for measuring hand hygiene compliance.
• To identify a more sustainable and reliable method for routine hand hygiene monitoring in hospitals.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of alcohol-based handrub purchase data.
• Comparison of purchase data trends with traditional auditing data (where available).
• Assessment of the correlation between handrub consumption and compliance rates.

Main Results:

• Alcohol-based handrub purchase data demonstrated a strong correlation with actual hand hygiene usage.
• This proxy method offers a more objective and less burdensome approach to monitoring compliance.
• The data suggests purchase patterns can reliably indicate adherence to hand hygiene protocols.

Conclusions:

• Alcohol-based handrub procurement data is a practical and effective proxy for assessing hand hygiene compliance in healthcare settings.
• Implementing this method can alleviate the burden of traditional auditing, enhancing program sustainability.
• This approach supports continuous quality improvement in infection prevention and control programs.