Impact of an electronic hand hygiene monitoring system on hand hygiene compliance

Health care worker hand hygiene (HH) is suboptimal. Electronic hand hygiene monitoring systems (EHHMS) record real-time HH events and may improve HH compliance. We evaluated if an EHHMS affected HH compliance.

HH compliance of 6,711 inpatient health care workers was recorded in 9 hospitals for 30months using an EHHMS. Badge-wearing ratios (BWRs: number of staff wearing their monitoring badge/number of staff given a badge) and HH compliance rates were compared. Linear regression analysis and multivariate models compared BWRs across health care worker types and analyzed the interaction between BWRs and location.

There was a 1.9% increase in HH compliance for every 10-unit increase in BWR (t=6.65, P value <.001). Hospital location, health care worker type, and shift type significantly influenced HH compliance (F=115.7, df=[19,986], P value <.001, R²=0.69). BWRs and HH compliance were higher in hospitals that provided additional incentives to their health care workers.

Improved EHHMS badge-wearing correlated with increased HH compliance. Hospitals that provided incentives and placed a greater focus on HH had the most-improved HH compliance.