Hero Program: A data-driven reward system to improve hand hygiene

Healthcare-associated infections compromise patient outcomes and pose a burden on healthcare systems worldwide. Despite widespread awareness of the critical role of Hand Hygiene (HH) in preventing healthcare-associated infections, compliance among healthcare workers remains suboptimal. This study evaluates a reward program called the Hero Program which is designed to incentivize and sustain HH practices through positive reinforcement.

The program used data from an electronic HH prompting system that has been installed in an inpatient unit in Toronto Rehabilitation Institute - University Health Network for 3years. A scoring algorithm was implemented to weigh individual HH compliance rates, considering workload and rewarding consistency. Daily winners were selected based on their scores and received gift card rewards.

The analysis of data from 61 caregivers and more than 566,000 records for approximately 2.5years indicates that the Hero Program led to an 11.45% increase in HH compliance after 120days of implementation. This is a promising finding, suggesting that the program was effective in promoting behavior change early on. Compliance rates continued to improve over time, reaching 94% 1year later.

This sustained improvement suggests that the program had a long-lasting positive impact on HH practices in the unit.