Use of electronic alerts to enhance hand hygiene compliance and decrease transmission of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus in a hematology unit.

Background: Hand hygiene (HH) compliance among health care workers (HCWs) has been historically low and hampered by poor surveillance methods. This study evaluated the use of an electronic device to measure and impact HH compliance.

Methods: The study is a prospective, interventional study in a 30-bed academic medical center hematology unit.

Assessment of materials commonly utilized in health care: implications for bacterial survival and transmission.

Background: Contaminated environmental surfaces, equipment, and health care workers' hands have been linked to outbreaks of infection or colonization because of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PSAE). Upholstery, walls, and flooring may enhance bacterial survival, providing infectious reservoirs.

Objectives: Investigate recovery of VRE and PSAE, determine efficacy of disinfection, and evaluate VRE transmission from surfaces.

Influence of role models and hospital design on hand hygiene of healthcare workers.

We assessed the effect of medical staff role models and the number of health-care worker sinks on hand-hygiene compliance before and after construction of a new hospital designed for increased access to handwashing sinks. We observed health-care worker hand hygiene in four nursing units that provided similar patient care in both the old and new hospitals: medical and surgical intensive care, hematology/oncology, and solid organ transplant units. Of 721 hand-hygiene opportunities, 304 (42%) were observed in the old hospital and 417 (58%) in the new hospital.

Risk factors for acquisition of vancomycin-resistant enterococci among hematology-oncology patients.

The incidence of VRE has increased dramatically and hematology-oncology patients are at high risk for acquisition of colonization and development of infection. Therefore, we performed a prospective cohort study to determine risk factors for VRE acquisition among hematology-oncology patients. Patients admitted to a single unit at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, which was predominantly comprised of patients with hematologic malignancies and recipients of hematopoietic stem cell transplants, were enrolled.