Handwashing adherence by visitors is poor: is there a simple solution?

Abstract

Available evidence suggests that handwashing adherence by visitors to hospital clinics is poor. In this investigation, an audit of 180 people showed that handwashing adherence by visitors to a hospital clinic was 25%, which was very low. Our active method to encourage handwashing led to a marked improvement in adherence from 25% to 68%, increasing to 77% for longer term visitors to the clinic (significance, P < .0001).

Keywords: Compliance; Hand hygiene; Nosocomial infection.