Hand Hygiene Improvement and Sustainability: Assessing a Breakthrough Collaborative in Western Switzerland

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Improvement Science
• Infectious Disease Epidemiology
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Hand hygiene is critical for preventing healthcare-associated infections.
• Sustaining high hand hygiene compliance remains a challenge in clinical settings.
• Multicenter initiatives are needed to evaluate effective improvement strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of a Hand Hygiene Breakthrough Collaborative on hand hygiene compliance.
• To evaluate the sustainability of improved hand hygiene practices.
• To analyze compliance changes across different healthcare professions.

Main Methods:

• A multicenter analysis involving 5 hospitals in Switzerland.
• Direct observation of hand hygiene compliance by trained observers.
• Implementation of the WHO multimodal hand hygiene promotional strategy over 18 months.

Main Results:

• Overall hand hygiene compliance increased from 61.9% to 88.3% (P<.001) over 18 months.
• Compliance was sustained at 88.9% (P=.248) 12 months after the intervention.
• Significant improvements and sustained compliance were observed across physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, and X-ray technicians.

Conclusions:

• The Breakthrough Collaborative method, combined with the WHO multimodal strategy, effectively improved hand hygiene compliance.
• Sustained improvements were achieved across all participating hospitals and healthcare professions.
• This approach offers a scalable model for enhancing hand hygiene in healthcare settings.