Pharmacist participation in infection prevention: an innovative approach to monitoring compliance with the Five Moments for Hand Hygiene in a large academic medical center

Jason Bergsbaken; Lucas T Schulz; Philip J Trapskin; John Marx; Nasia Safdar

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2013.10.009

Pharmacist participation in infection prevention: an innovative approach to monitoring compliance with the Five Moments for Hand Hygiene in a large academic medical center

Am J Infect Control. 2014 Mar;42(3):331-2. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2013.10.009.

Authors

Jason Bergsbaken¹, Lucas T Schulz², Philip J Trapskin², John Marx³, Nasia Safdar⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, Madison, WI. Electronic address: jbergsbaken@uwhealth.org.
² Department of Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, Madison, WI.
³ Department of Infection Control, University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, Madison, WI.
⁴ Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI.

PMID: 24581023
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2013.10.009

Abstract

Using pharmacy residents as covert observers, we evaluated compliance with hand hygiene and contact precautions among 101 unique health care workers on entrance, exit, and inside rooms of patients with known or suspected Clostridium difficile infection. Overall compliance rates with hand hygiene upon entering and exiting patient rooms were 63.4% and 69.3%, respectively. However, there was a lack of hand hygiene inside patient rooms for the observed opportunities.

Keywords: Clostridium difficile infection; Glove; Gown; Hand hygiene compliance monitoring; Infection control.

MeSH terms

Academic Medical Centers
Clostridium Infections / prevention & control*
Clostridium Infections / transmission
Cross Infection / prevention & control*
Cross Infection / transmission
Disease Transmission, Infectious / prevention & control*
Guideline Adherence / statistics & numerical data*
Hand Hygiene / methods*
Health Personnel*
Humans