Hostname: page-component-857557d7f7-d5hhr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-11-24T03:56:55.321Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Observational bias within a hospital-wide hand hygiene program

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 September 2021

Amy E. Badwaik ,
Robert P. Tucker ,
Peggy Leung  and
Michael Klompas Open the ORCID record for Michael Klompas [Opens in a new window]
Amy E. Badwaik
Affiliation:
Infection Control Department, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Department of Quality and Safety, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Robert P. Tucker
Affiliation:
Infection Control Department, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Department of Quality and Safety, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Peggy Leung
Affiliation:
Analytics, Planning, Strategy & Improvement, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Michael Klompas*
Affiliation:
Infection Control Department, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Department of Quality and Safety, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Michael Klompas, E-mail: mklompas@bwh.harvard.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We assessed the extent to which healthcare workers report more favorable hand hygiene rates when observing members of their own professional group versus other groups’ observations of them. Healthcare workers consistently reported higher compliance rates for their own group compared to others’ observations of them (97 vs 92%; P ≤ .001).

Information

Type
Concise Communication
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 43 , Issue 12 , December 2022 , pp. 1942 - 1944
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

McLaws, ML, Kwok, YLA. Hand hygiene compliance rates: fact or fiction? Am J Infect Control 2018;46:876–880.Google ScholarPubMed
Sickbert-Bennett, EE, DiBiase, LM, Schade Willis, TM, Wolak, ES, Weber, DJ, Rutala, WA. Reducing healthcare-associated infections by implementing a novel all hands on deck approach for hand hygiene compliance. Am J Infect Control 2016;44:e13–e16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sickbert-Bennett, EE, DiBiase, LM, Willis, TM, Wolak, ES, Weber, DJ, Rutala, WA. Reduction of healthcare-associated infections by exceeding high compliance with hand hygiene practices. Emerg Infect Dis 2016;22:1628–1630.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Talbot, TR, Johnson, JG, Fergus, C, et al. Sustained improvement in hand hygiene adherence: utilizing shared accountability and financial incentives. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2013;34:1129–1136.Google ScholarPubMed
Jeanes, A, Coen, PG, Gould, DJ, Drey, NS. Validity of hand hygiene compliance measurement by observation: a systematic review. Am J Infect Control 2019;47:313–322.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed