PATIENT AS OBSERVER APPROACH TO TRACKING HAND HYGIENE COMPLIANCE IN OUTPATIENT FACILITIES

Authors:

Phillip Gregg, MS

Manager of Safety and Infection Control, OhioHealth Physician Group

Becky Scarborough

Director of Clinical Excellence, OhioHealth Physician Group

Randy M. Jernejcic, M.D.

Vice President of Clinical Excellence, OhioHealth Physician Group

Hand hygiene compliance is considered by the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization as one of the most important factors in preventing the spread of infections in health-care facilities, including outpatient facilities. Hospitals pledge countless resources to promoting hand hygiene and tracking compliance rates. Often times outpatient physician offices do not have an infection prevention team, even when they are part of a larger health-system. Therefore, solving the logistical challenges can make it difficult to track hand hygiene compliance for a large-scale health-system physician group.

Based on recommendations by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and work conducted by other health-care systems, the OhioHealth Physician Group began a project to invite patients to participate as observers of hand hygiene compliance in outpatient physician offices. Upon registration at the care site, front desk staff invited five random patients per day to monitor hand hygiene compliance of nursing and physician staff and complete an observation card at the end of their visit.

During the first six months of the project (October, 2013 to March, 2014), 10,330 observation cards were distributed to patients at thirty-seven different care sites. A total of 6,821 observation cards were returned resulting in a 66% patient response rate. This project can serve as a multi-faceted tool that:

  • increases public awareness of hand hygiene importance in health-care facilities,
  • validates the commitment to hand hygiene compliance by nursing staff and physicians,
  • demonstrates our culture of safety and quality improvement processes to help identify gaps in hand hygiene compliance, and
  • serves as a viable option for tracking hand hygiene compliance at outpatient physician offices.