Patient awareness of healthcare-associated infection risk and prevention: Has there been a change in 3 decades (1989-2019)?

Using a 1989 baseline study, we surveyed 1,004 US consumers in 2019 on education and awareness of healthcare-associated infection (HAI) risk and prevention. Awareness of HAI risk remains unchanged (62% vs 65%) but belief HAIs are preventable dropped (83% vs 28%). Medical professionals and the internet are top information sources.

A Review of Electronic Hand Hygiene Monitoring: Considerations for Hospital Management in Data Collection, Healthcare Worker Supervision, and Patient Perception.

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in U.S. acute care hospitals lead to a burden of $96-$147 billion annually on the U.

Irritant Contact Dermatitis on Hands.

Hand hygiene (HH) is the single most important procedure health care workers (HCWs) can follow to reduce the risk of spreading health care-associated infections, yet compliance with this simple task remains at less than 50%. One of the reasons often cited for noncompliance is irritant contact dermatitis (ICD) resulting from repeated exposure to HH products and procedure. This literature review used the World Health Organization's components of empowerment as a guideline for the search and development of a clinical model to address HCW HH and ICD.

Patient empowerment begins with knowledge: consumer perceptions and knowledge sources for hand hygiene compliance rates.

A survey of 1,000 US consumers quantified their knowledge of health care worker hand hygiene compliance, their information sources on hand hygiene rates, and their past behavior of asking health care workers to perform hand hygiene. Sixty-nine percent of respondents believed compliance is above 50%; 17% of respondents had asked a health care worker to perform hand hygiene. Our findings suggest that an organized plan of disclosure about hand hygiene rates may be a way to empower through knowledge.

Public reporting of healthcare-associated infections: epidemiologists' perspectives.

Public reporting of healthcare-associated infections is pervasive, with 33 states and the District of Columbia mandating public disclosure. We surveyed hospital epidemiologists on the perceived value of state public reports. Respondents believed consumers are unaware and do not consider the information important, but they indicated that epidemiologists have a role in consumer education.

Hand hygiene compliance rates in the United States--a one-year multicenter collaboration using product/volume usage measurement and feedback.

Hand hygiene (HH) is the single most important factor in the prevention of health care-acquired infections. The 3 most frequently reported methods of measuring HH compliance are: (1) direct observation, (2) self-reporting by health care workers (HCWs), and (3) indirect calculation based on HH product usage. This article presents the results of a 12-month multicenter collaboration assessing HH compliance rates at US health care facilities by measuring product usage and providing feedback about HH compliance.