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Handwashing compliance in hospitals still difficult to meet

Infection Control Monitor, July 16, 2004

A Boston hospital with one of the most successful hand-hygiene programs in the country still can't reach 100% compliance with its healthcare staff, the Boston Globe reports.

Brigham and Women's Hospital, despite offering incentives like free movie passes to staff who kept their compliance rates high in intensive care units, recently only managed 80% compliance with handwashing.

After the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention two years ago called for healthcare facilities to improve their hand-hygiene practices, a number of Boston hospitals took the edict seriously, undertaking campaigns to encourage more handwashing. Their efforts included offering staff pizza parties for improving handwashing rates.

Statistics tell the need for improved healthcare staff handwashing efforts. About 2 million patients in the United States each year contract an infection while hospitalized. That translates to 90,000 deaths and a cost of $4.5 billion annually.

Quick-drying hand gels are now standard in most hospitals, but at 30 seconds per handwash, busy staff could spend 10 minutes per hour washing their hands and not get to other important tasks.

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