Incorporating a Hand Hygiene Program into an Aged Care Facility
Inder Teja1, 1Lakmini Dissayanake, 1Lorelie San Jose,
1Bluecross
Background:
A robust Infection Prevention and Control program relies heavily on compliance with hand hygiene at key times of care. In the past we had used a competency assessment to provide assurance of compliance. However, we noticed this did not always translate to practice as was noted on observational audits. Therefore, we launched a campaign to increase the focus on hand hygiene.
Method:
We used a continuous improvement model framework to re-introduce the concepts to staff and residents. Recognizing hand hygiene requires a multi-factorial approach, we included training of overt and covert auditors, collection of pre-campaign compliance data, reinforcing hand hygiene expectations at residence meetings, hung campaign posters in high traffic areas, placed green stickers at high touch points to help everyone identify when hand hygiene needed to be performed, and involved residents and visitors to provide feedback using a customized audit tool. Audit results are reviewed at meetings and posted within the residence.
Results:
Staff hand hygiene increased by 30% over the 4 months audited. The resident and visitor feedback indicates a 90% compliance of staff hand hygiene. Resident and visitor engagement with the program has consequently resulted in an overall increase with hand hygiene for everyone.
Conclusion:
A multi-pronged approach is essential to implement and sustain change for improving hand hygiene. Visual cues at key touch points promoted practice for when this should be done, and engagement of direct care recipients assist with accountability. Overall stakeholder feedback for the program has been very positive.
Biography
Inder – IPC coordinator with 2.5 years of experience being an IPC lead. Performed various roles within the aged care industry ranging from Personal carer to residence manager, before stepping into the IPC world.