Improving infection control practices of nurse anesthetists in the anesthesia workspace.

Background: Anesthesia providers commonly cross-contaminate their workspace and subsequently put patients at risk for a health care-acquired infection. The primary objective of this project was to determine if education and implementation of standardized infection control guidelines that address evidence-based best practices would improve compliance with infection control procedures in the anesthesia workspace.

Methods: Patient care-related hand hygiene of nurse anesthetists was observed in 3 areas of anesthesia practice before and 3 weeks and 3 months after staff education, placement of visual reminders, and the implementation of infection control guidelines.