Department of Anesthesiology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, FL, USA.
Am J Infect Control. 2012 May;40(4):340-3. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2011.05.006. Epub 2011 Aug 23.
Reports regarding hand hygiene compliance (HHC) among hospital visitors are limited. Although there is an implicit assumption that the availability of alcohol-based hand sanitizer (AHS) promotes visitor HHC, the degree of AHS use by visitors remains unclear. To assess AHS use, we observed visitor HHC and how it is affected by visual cues in a private university hospital.
Using an observational controlled study, we tested 3 interventions: a desk sign mandating all visitors to use AHS, a free-standing AHS dispenser directly in front of a security desk, and a combination of a freestanding AHS dispenser and a sign.
HHC was 0.52% at baseline and did not improve significantly when the desk sign was provided as a cue 0.67% (P = .753). However, HHC did improve significantly with use of the freestanding AHS dispenser (9.33%) and the sign and dispenser combination (11.67%) (P < .001 for all comparisons of dispenser alone and sign and dispenser with baseline and sign alone). The degree of improvement with the sign and dispenser combination over the dispenser was not statistically significant.
Hospital visitors represent an important factor in infection prevention. A coordinated effort is needed to increase visitor HHC, including an evaluation of the AHS placement, education of visitors on the importance of HHC, and evaluation of corresponding changes in hand hygiene behavior.
有关医院访客手部卫生依从性（HHC）的报告有限。尽管人们默认酒精基手部消毒剂（AHS）的可及性会促进访客的 HHC，但访客对 AHS 的使用程度仍不清楚。为了评估 AHS 的使用情况，我们观察了访客在一所私立大学医院中的 HHC 情况及其受视觉提示的影响。
我们采用观察性对照研究，测试了 3 种干预措施：一个要求所有访客使用 AHS 的台式标志、一个直接放在保安台前面的独立 AHS 分配器，以及一个独立 AHS 分配器和标志的组合。
基线时 HHC 为 0.52%，当提供台式标志作为提示时，HHC 并未显著改善（0.67%，P =.753）。然而，当使用独立的 AHS 分配器（9.33%）和标志与分配器的组合（11.67%）时，HHC 确实显著改善（P <.001 比较所有分配器单独使用和标志单独使用与基线和标志单独使用的情况）。标志和分配器组合的改善程度与分配器相比没有统计学意义。
医院访客是感染预防的一个重要因素。需要协调努力来提高访客的 HHC，包括评估 AHS 的放置、对访客进行 HHC 重要性的教育，以及评估相应的手部卫生行为变化。
