Background: Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) is a worldwide urgent health problem. Hand hygiene (HH) is an effective intervention to reduce the spread of CRE.
Local problem: In 2017, an increase in the rate of health care-associated (HA) CRE colonization was observed in a large multiorgan transplant center in Italy. This study aimed to reduce the HA-CRE colonization rates by improving HH compliance.
Methods: A pre-/post-intervention project was conducted from November 2017 through December 2020.
Interventions: The DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) framework was used to implement the HH Targeted Solution Tool (TST).
Results: Hand hygiene compliance increased from 49% to 76.9% after the Improve phase ( P = .0001), and to 81.9% after the second Control phase ( P = .0001). The rate of HA-CRE decreased from 24.9% to 5.6% ( P = .0001).
Conclusions: Using the DMAIC framework to implement the TST can result in significant improvements in HH compliance and HA-CRE colonization rates.
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