PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

RI Hospital study measures impact of education, information on hand hygiene compliance

Compliance increased more than 25 percent over 4-year period

2013-10-29
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Ellen Slingsby
eslingsby@lifespan.org
401-444-6421
Lifespan
RI Hospital study measures impact of education, information on hand hygiene compliance Compliance increased more than 25 percent over 4-year period PROVIDENCE, R.I. – How often do you clean your hands? A study at Rhode Island Hospital observed staff on 161,526 occasions to monitor how often they cleaned their hands (ie, hand hygiene) between July 2008 to December 2012 and found that hand hygiene compliance improved from 60 percent to 89 percent. The study is published online in advance of print in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

The investigators found there was greater hand hygiene compliance when health care workers were leaving patient rooms, when going in or out of the room of a patient that was known to be infected or colonized with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and when caring for patients during the evening shift. In the publication, the investigators also outlined the infection control and prevention program utilized at Rhode Island Hospital that significantly improved hand hygiene compliance among doctors, nurses and support staff.

Hospital-associated infections have a significant impact on health care in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2002, such infections developed in 1.7 million patients and were associated with nearly 100,000 deaths. In 2009, the CDC estimated that the annual direct medical costs of such infections in U.S. hospitals was $36 billion to $45 billion.

"Hand hygiene is the most important intervention to reduce the risk of hospital-associated infections, but many hospitals have struggled to develop a culture of safety where high hand hygiene compliance becomes the norm rather than the exception," said principal investigator Leonard Mermel, D.O., medical director of the department of epidemiology and infection control at Rhode Island Hospital. "With use of a process improvement program that engaged hospital administration at the highest levels, as well as hospital staff from housekeepers, to facilities engineers, to nurses, doctors and others, we were able to dramatically improve our hand hygiene compliance in a sustainable fashion, thereby reducing the potential for harm in our patients". ### There was no funding for this study. Mermel's principal affiliation is Rhode Island Hospital, a member hospital of the Lifespan health system in Rhode Island. He also has an academic appointment at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, department of epidemiology and infection control. Other researchers involved in the study are Julie Jefferson, RN, MPH; and Benjamin Kowitt, MD, both are affiliated with Rhode Island Hospital and/or Brown University. About Rhode Island Hospital Founded in 1863, Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, R.I., is a private, not-for-profit hospital and is the principal teaching hospital of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. A major trauma center for southeastern New England, the hospital is dedicated to being on the cutting edge of medicine and research. Last year, Rhode Island Hospital received more than $55 million in external research funding. It is also home to Hasbro Children's Hospital, the state's only facility dedicated to pediatric care. For more information on Rhode Island Hospital, visit http://www.rhodeislandhospital.org, follow us on Twitter @RIHospital or like us on Facebook.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Evaluation of hospital infection prevention policies can identify opportunities for improvement

2013-10-29
Evaluation of hospital infection prevention policies can identify opportunities for improvement Washington, DC, October 29, 2013 – Identifying gaps in infection prevention practices may yield opportunities for improved patient safety, according to a survey published ...

Surviving -- then thriving

2013-10-29
Surviving -- then thriving Tel Aviv University research shows children of Holocaust survivors react differently to trauma Modern medicine usually considers trauma — both the physical and the psychological kinds — as unequivocally damaging. Now researchers ...

MRSA declines are sustained in veterans hospitals nationwide

2013-10-29
MRSA declines are sustained in veterans hospitals nationwide Washington, DC, October 29, 2013 – Five years after implementing a national initiative to reduce methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) rates in Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers, MRSA cases ...

Is YouTube a driver for social movements like Occupy Wall Street?

2013-10-29
Is YouTube a driver for social movements like Occupy Wall Street? New Rochelle, NY, October 29, 2013—Social media such as YouTube videos provide a popular and flexible venue for online activism. How two different social protest movements—Occupy ...

New report: Companies created from federally funded university research fuel american innovation, economic growth

2013-10-29
New report: Companies created from federally funded university research fuel american innovation, economic growth Sequestration jeopardizes this source of progress, jobs and growth WASHINGTON, DC, Oct. 29, 2013 – A new report released today by The Science Coalition ...

Eye tracking technology suggests people 'check out' women at first glance

2013-10-29
Eye tracking technology suggests people 'check out' women at first glance Study says women with 'hour glass figures' generally regarded more positively Eye tracking technology has reconfirmed what women have known all along: that people look at their sexual body ...

Obesity: A new appetite-increasing mechanism discovered

2013-10-29
Obesity: A new appetite-increasing mechanism discovered These results are published in the journal Nature Communications, on 25 October 2013. Obesity affects more than 15% of adults in France, and its constitutive ...

My eyes are up here!

2013-10-29
My eyes are up here! Eyetrack study demonstrates that men -- and women -- check out female bodies Lincoln, Neb., Oct. 29, 2013 – Usually, women can tell when someone's eyes aren't on her face and are, well, focused elsewhere on her body. In other words, ...

New study suggests coral reefs may be able to adapt to moderate climate change

2013-10-29
New study suggests coral reefs may be able to adapt to moderate climate change Coral reefs may be able to adapt to moderate climate warming, improving their chance of surviving through the end of this century, if there are large reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, ...

Plasmonic crystal alters to match light-frequency source

2013-10-29
Plasmonic crystal alters to match light-frequency source A device like a photonic crystal, but smaller and tunable ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Gems are known for the beauty of the light that passes through them. But it is the fixed atomic arrangements of these crystals ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

New post-hoc analysis shows patients whose clinicians had access to GeneSight results for depression treatment are more likely to feel better sooner

First transplant in pigs of modified porcine kidneys with human renal organoids

Reinforcement learning and blockchain: new strategies to secure the Internet of Medical Things

Autograph: A higher-accuracy and faster framework for compute-intensive programs

Expansion microscopy helps chart the planktonic universe

Small bat hunts like lions – only better

As Medicaid work requirements loom, U-M study finds links between coverage, better health and higher employment

Manifestations of structural racism and inequities in cardiovascular health across US neighborhoods

Prescribing trends of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists for type 2 diabetes or obesity

Continuous glucose monitoring frequency and glycemic control in people with type 2 diabetes

Bimodal tactile tomography with bayesian sequential palpation for intracavitary microstructure profiling and segmentation

IEEE study reviews novel photonics breakthroughs of 2024

New method for intentional control of bionic prostheses

Obesity treatment risks becoming a ‘two-tier system’, researchers warn

Researchers discuss gaps, obstacles and solutions for contraception

Disrupted connectivity of the brainstem ascending reticular activating system nuclei-left parahippocampal gyrus could reveal mechanisms of delirium following basal ganglia intracerebral hemorrhage

Federated metadata-constrained iRadonMAP framework with mutual learning for all-in-one computed tomography imaging

‘Frazzled’ fruit flies help unravel how neural circuits stay wired

Improving care for life-threatening blood clots

Yonsei University develops a new era of high-voltage solid-state batteries

Underweight and unbalanced: Gut microbial diversity in underweight Japanese women

Astringent, sharper mind: Flavanols trigger brain activity for memory and stress response

New editorial urges clinicians to address sex-based disparities in sepsis treatment

Researchers at MIT develop new nanoparticles that stimulate the immune system to attack ovarian tumors

Opening the door to a vaccine for multiple childhood infections

New clue to ALS and FTD: Faulty protein disrupts brain’s ‘brake’ system

Detailed map of US air-conditioning usage shows who can beat the heat — and who can’t

An electronic fiber for stretchable sensing

New image captures spooky bat signal in the sky

Cobalt single atom-phosphate functionalized reduced graphene oxide/perylenetetracarboxylic acid nanosheet heterojunctions for efficiently photocatalytic H2O2 production

[Press-News.org] RI Hospital study measures impact of education, information on hand hygiene compliance
Compliance increased more than 25 percent over 4-year period