Understanding practice: factors that influence physician hand hygiene compliance.

Objective: To identify the behavioral determinants--both barriers and enablers--that may impact physician hand hygiene compliance.

Design: A qualitative study involving semistructured key informant interviews with staff physicians and residents.

Setting: An urban, 1,100-bed multisite tertiary care Canadian hospital.

Improving physician hand hygiene compliance using behavioural theories: a study protocol.

Background: Healthcare-associated infections affect 10% of patients in Canadian acute-care hospitals and are significant and preventable causes of morbidity and mortality among hospitalized patients. Hand hygiene is among the simplest and most effective preventive measures to reduce these infections. However, compliance with hand hygiene among healthcare workers, specifically among physicians, is consistently suboptimal.

Outbreak of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonization and infection secondary to imperfect intensive care unit room design.

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been increasingly recognized for its ability to cause significant hospital-associated outbreaks, particularly since the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains. Biofilm formation allows the pathogen to persist in environmental reservoirs. Thus, multiple hospital room design elements, including sink placement and design, can impact nosocomial transmission of P.