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
Phillip.gregg@ohiohealth.com
Becky Scarborough
Director of Clinical Excellence, OhioHealth Physician Group
Rebecca.scarborough@ohiohealth.com
Randy M. Jernejcic, M.D.
Vice President of Clinical Excellence, OhioHealth Physician Group
Randy.jernejcic@ohiohealth.com
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:
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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.