Ms Donna Taylor1
1Bayside Regional Care Group, Australia
Biography:
Donna Taylor is an experienced Infection Prevention and Control Consultant and former Victorian Hand Hygiene Jurisdiction Coordinator. With expertise across acute care, aged care, and community health, she is passionate about patient safety, staff education, quality improvement, and evidence-based infection prevention.
Abstract:
Hand hygiene is a key performance indicator in healthcare; however, achieving and sustaining compliance remains challenging, particularly among medical staff. Workforce turnover, rotating junior medical officers, and reliance on locum practitioners can limit engagement with infection prevention and control (IPC) programs and contribute to low compliance rates.
To address this issue, a multimodal improvement strategy was implemented within a small rural Urgent Care Centre. As an IPC Consultant and Hand Hygiene Auditor Educator (HAE), opportunities were created to provide real-time education, reinforce the Five Moments for Hand Hygiene, and promote best practice during routine clinical activities. Additional strategies included reviewing alcohol-based hand rub placement (ABHR), supporting annual IPC competency assessments, reinforcing aseptic non-touch technique (ANTT), and promoting leadership and role modelling by senior clinicians.
Following implementation, medical staff hand hygiene compliance improved significantly. Opportunistic education, environmental modifications, and visible leadership increased awareness of hand hygiene expectations and strengthened accountability. Working alongside clinicians enabled immediate feedback and reinforced correct practice at the point of care (POC).
This experience demonstrates that improving hand hygiene compliance requires more than auditing alone. Sustainable improvement depends on a multimodal approach combining education, accessible hand hygiene products, leadership support, role modelling, and ongoing reinforcement. Key lessons learned were that relationship building facilitates behavioural change, immediate feedback influences practice, and simple environmental modifications can improve compliance. These strategies may assist other emergency departments and urgent care centres to achieve sustained improvements in hand hygiene performance and patient safety.