An automated hand hygiene compliance system is associated with decreased rates of health care-associated infections.

Background: Health care-associated infections (HAIs) are avoidable through good hand hygiene (HH) practices. Hand hygiene compliance systems (HHCSs) have been shown to reliably measure HH adherence, but data on their effectiveness at reducing HAI rates are limited.

Methods: This nonrandomized, pre-post intervention study was conducted at a community hospital in the United States.

An automated hand hygiene compliance system is associated with improved monitoring of hand hygiene.

Background: Consistent hand hygiene is key to reducing health care-associated infections (HAIs) and assessing compliance with hand hygiene protocols is vital for hospital infection control staff. A new automated hand hygiene compliance system (HHCS) was trialed as an alternative to human observers in an intensive care unit and an intensive care stepdown unit at a hospital facility in the northeastern United States.

Methods: Using a retrospective cohort design, researchers investigated whether implementation of the HHCS resulted in improved hand hygiene compliance and a reduction in common HAI rates.