Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2014 Nov;15(6):222-228.
doi: 10.1177/1757177414548695. Epub 2014 Sep 23.

Review of technologies available to improve hand hygiene compliance - are they fit for purpose?

Carolyn H Dawson  1 , Jamie B Mackrill  1
Affiliations
Review

Review of technologies available to improve hand hygiene compliance - are they fit for purpose?

Carolyn H Dawson et al. J Infect Prev. 2014 Nov.

Abstract

Hand hygiene has been empirically proven to prevent cross-transmission of infection, which has led to the development of global guidelines such as the World Health Organization's 'My 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene.' Because of the relatively recent launch of these guidelines (2009) technology designed to assist in measuring hand hygiene compliance appears not to fully acknowledge the influence of the WHO 5 Moments for hand hygiene Consequently, they may not be fit for purpose (FFP). This paper uses a review of the literature on current hand hygiene technology to assess the extent to which these are FFP based on these global guidelines. The results show that there are a variety of technologies available to assist with the monitoring and measurement of hand hygiene levels. However, none appear to explicitly achieve detection of all WHO 5 Moments for hand hygiene, limiting their effectiveness. The authors conclude that a systems approach offers a potential aid for developers aspiring to meet domain specific FFP requirements. Human factors may help guide such developments to meet user and context specific needs.

Keywords: Auditing; WHO 5 moments; electronic surveillance; feedback; hand hygiene; human factors; measurement; patient safety; technology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Fit for purpose matrix which provided scoring criteria and guidance for reviewing technologies based on their ability to monitor, measure and provide feedback about hand hygiene at each of the WHO 5 Moments
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Flow-diagram of inclusion and exclusion decisions during the review process resulting in 19 unique technologies being assessed by matrix scorecard
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
A systems way of considering technology for hand hygiene monitoring. Adapted from Vicente (2006)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Anon. (2011) System given gentle nudge on handwashing. Health Facilities Management 24(2): 6.
    1. Anon. (2012) Product preview. Supply House Times 55(7): 12–14.
    1. Armellino D, Hussain E, Schilling ME, Senicola W, Eichorn A, Dlugacz Y, Farber BF. (2012) Using high-technology to enforce low-technology safety measures: the use of third-party remote video auditing and real-time feedback in healthcare. Clinical Infectious Diseases 54(1): 1–7. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bauer TM, Ofner E, Just HM, Just H, Daschner FD. (1990) An epidemiological study assessing the relative importance of airborne and direct contact transmission of microorganisms in a medical intensive care unit. Journal of Hospital Infection 15(4): 301–9. - PubMed
    1. Bhalla A, Pultz NJ, Gries DM, Ray AJ, Eckstein EC, Aron DC, Donskey CJ. (2004) Acquisition of nosocomial pathogens on hands after contact with environmental surfaces near hospitalized patients. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology 25(2):164–7. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources