The impact of interventions to improve compliance in hand hygiene – a prospective study from Sangre Grande Hospital

Methods A prospective study was conducted to determine the hand hygiene (HH) practices of staff according to the World Health Organization’s “5 moments of HH”. During random visits to the general wards, HH practices of staff were observed for 41 weeks during 2014-15. During the first 8 weeks, the basic compliance rate (BCR) was calculated. A BCR of 50% or more was considered compliant. Data were provided to the staff via email. Toolbox talks, posters, and other educational interventions were instituted in a multimodal manner. Wards were visited by infection control staff to reinforce HH practices. During the post-intervention phase, the HH practices were reassessed for 33 weeks to compare the impact of interventions.