Virginia Hospitals Reduce Hospital Acquired Infections with Hand Hygiene Program

Four Virgina hospitals reduced healthcare-acquired infection rates (HAIs) a collective 41 percent within ninety days. This reduction in HAI's  resulted in a savings of $1.2 million in additional costs. By implementing an  action plan in addition to existing federal hand washing protocols, these hospitals improved patient safety and quality, reported 59 fewer infections and reduced patient length-of-stay and unnecessary readmissions.

VHHA Services, a subsidiary of the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, coordinated a study among the four hospitals to determine if adding a persistent hand sanitizing lotion and a persistent surface disinfectant to current practices reduces HAI rates. The products, developed by Germ Pro Products, Inc., offer continual, long-acting (persistent) effects that kill germs on hands for four hours and on surfaces for up to 28 days.

Health care workers at the four hospitals were instructed to apply Germ Pro Hand Sanitizing Lotion at the start of their workday and reapply every four hours. They were told to continue washing their hands or using an alcohol sanitizer as recommended in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Hand Hygiene Guidelines. Environmental Services employees were instructed to apply the surface disinfectant to "touch points" only. Rooms were disinfected after patient discharges and common hospital areas were treated monthly. No capital investment was required by the participating hospitals.

The study ran three months and compared HAI rates during the study to the three months prior to the study period. After the three-month trial period, results showed an average of 41.5 percent fewer infections per 1,000 patient days. Individual hospitals reduced infections 29.4 percent, 32.4 percent, 50 percent and 54.2 percent respectively.

For more information on hand hygiene and patient safety please visit www.psqh.com

Florida Hospitals Reducing Infections Through Hand Hygenie Rules

Hand Hygiene Important Factor in Patient Safety in Florida Hospitals

As reported in News- Press.com by Frank Gluck

Signs posted in hospital break rooms at  Lee Memorial Health System hospitals keep tabs on how often staffers are caught skipping hand washing — usually not often. Once taboo in hospital and health care settings, nurses and support staff are encouraged to call out doctors doing anything that might spread germs. Even casual patient contact with doctors’ neckties and iconic white coats are suspect.

These and a long list of hygiene rules, started in earnest seven years ago and taking place at hospitals nationally, may be behind sharp drops in one of the most common hospital infections, a pair of new studies show. Central-line associated bloodstream infections, which kill up to a quarter of patients who contract them, have plummeted 40 percent at Lee Memorial’s hospitals over the past few years, system records show. Central lines are catheters usually guided near the heart by way of large veins, typically in the neck, chest or arm. They are used to monitor blood circulation, or to provide medication and fluids into the body. 

“It really does take a cultural shift. You really have to work as a team,” said Dr. Marilyn Kole, the system’s medical director for clinical services. “And when you have units that are at zero (infections) — some units have been at zero for several years — it’s devastating for everyone when it doesn’t.” 

Some individual hospital units have not had central-line infections for years. Less than a decade ago, roughly half of patients in a given intensive care unit would get infections.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported this month that Florida hospitals have cut central line-related infections by 37 percent since 2009.

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