Hand hygiene compliance (Also known as guideline compliance) describes the consistent and correct implementation of hand disinfection and hygiene measures in everyday medical practice. It is one of the most important measures for preventing nosocomial infections (hospital-acquired infections) and for protecting patients and staff.

The compliance rate is usually referred to as percentage This is expressed as the ratio of actual hand disinfections to the situations in which hand disinfection is required. The international standard for this is... 5 Moments for Hand Disinfection the World Health Organization (WHO).

Factors influencing compliance

Studies regularly show that average compliance in hand hygiene is often significantly below the desired level.

This is often due to time pressure, lack of routine, poorly accessible disinfectant dispensers, or an insufficient perception of the risk of infection.

Importance of training

Observational studies show that the frequency of hand disinfection can increase significantly immediately after hygiene training.¹. Training therefore not only improves technique, but also increases awareness and motivation for regular hand disinfection.

Simple psychological effects are suspected to be behind this:

1. Hand hygiene is receiving greater attention. As a result, necessary hand disinfection is being remembered more frequently in everyday life.
2. The training makes the importance of hand hygiene for infection control immediately tangible. The message is clear: Hand hygiene is important in this facility.

Sources:

1. [1] Zhang R. Investigating the prevention of hospital-acquired infection through standardized teaching ward rounds in clinical nursing. Genet Mol Res. 2015 Apr 22;14(2):3753-9. doi: 10.4238/2015.April.22.3. PMID: 25966144.
   
   [2]Di Muzio M, Cammilletti V, Petrelli E, Di Simone E. Hand hygiene in preventing nosocomial infections: a nursing research. Ann Ig. 2015 Mar-Apr;27(2):485-91. doi: 10.7416/ai.2015.2035. PMID: 26051147.
   
   [3] Gould DJ, Moralejo D, Drey N, Chudleigh JH, Taljaard M. Interventions to improve hand hygiene compliance in patient care. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017 Sep 1;9(9):CD005186. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD005186.pub4. PMID: 28862335; PMCID: PMC6483670.
   
   [4] McGuckin M, Govednik J. Patient empowerment and hand hygiene, 1997-2012. J Hosp Infect. 2013 Jul;84(3):191-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2013.01.014. Epub 2013 Apr 19. PMID: 23608002.
   
   [5] Davis R, Parand A, Pinto A, Buetow S. Systematic review of the effectiveness of strategies to encourage patients to remind healthcare professionals about their hand hygiene. J Hosp Infect. 2015 Mar;89(3):141-62. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2014.11.010. Epub 2014 Dec 16. PMID: 25617088.
   
   [6] Scheithauer S, Eitner F, Häfner H, Floege J, Lemmen SW. Long-term sustainability of hand hygiene improvements in the hemodialysis setting. Infection. 2013 Jun;41(3):675-80. doi: 10.1007/s15010-013-0424-0. Epub 2013 Feb 23. PMID: 23435688.
   
   [7] Scheithauer S, Rosarius A, Rex S, Post P, Heisel H, Krizanovic V, Schulze-Röbbecke R, Rossaint R, Lemmen SW. Improving hand hygiene compliance in the anesthesia working room work area: More than just more hand rubs. Am J Infect Control. 2013 Nov;41(11):1001-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2013.02.004. Epub 2013 May 11. PMID: 23669298. ↩︎