Influence of signal colored hand disinfectant dispensers on hand hygiene compliance at a medical intensive care unit

Simone Scheithauer; Helga Häfner; Jörg Schröder; Katharina Nowicki; Sebastian Lemmen

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2014.05.021

Influence of signal colored hand disinfectant dispensers on hand hygiene compliance at a medical intensive care unit

Am J Infect Control. 2014 Aug;42(8):926-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2014.05.021.

Authors

Simone Scheithauer¹, Helga Häfner², Jörg Schröder³, Katharina Nowicki², Sebastian Lemmen²

Affiliations

¹ Central Institute of Infection Control and Infectious Diseases, University Hospital Aachen, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany; Central Institute of Infection Control and Infectious Diseases, University Medicine Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany. Electronic address: sscheithauer@ukaachen.de.
² Central Institute of Infection Control and Infectious Diseases, University Hospital Aachen, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.
³ Department of Medicine I, University Hospital Aachen, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.

PMID: 25087148
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2014.05.021

Abstract

To assess the influence of signal colors on hand disinfectant dispenser activities, health care workers (HCWs) at a medical intensive care unit were analyzed for a total of 20 weeks with 8 weeks before and 12 weeks after exchange to signal color. No significant increase in hand rubs (HRs) per patient day (PD) was observed (about 40 HRs/PD); however, HCW-adjusted compliance showed a 6% increase with signal colored devices. Therefore, colored devices may help to improve hand hygiene compliance.

Keywords: Compliance; Hand hygiene; Infection control; Novel technologies.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Disinfectants / therapeutic use*
Disinfection / methods*
Disinfection / statistics & numerical data*
Guideline Adherence
Hand Hygiene / methods*
Humans
Intensive Care Units
Staining and Labeling / methods*

Substances

Disinfectants