Objective: To examine the utility of video-based monitoring systems (VMSs) for auditing hand hygiene compliance according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Five Moments.
Design: Pragmatic quasi-experimental observation trial.
Setting: The New South Wales Biocontainment Centre, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia.
Participants: Volunteer healthcare workers (HCWs).
Method: Six high-fidelity simulations were recorded and subsequently assessed for their ability to audit hand hygiene compliance according to the WHO Five Moments for hand hygiene criteria using tools provided by the National Hand Hygiene Initiative (NHHI).
Results: In total, 206 minutes of recorded footage were reviewed in 120 minutes, yielding 111 moments. Overall HCW hand hygiene compliance was 88% according to the WHO Five Moments framework. The cost per moment was $0.91 AUD ($0.66 USD) and the time required per moment was 64 seconds.
Conclusions: Auditing of hand hygiene compliance according to all 5 of the WHO Five Moments from recorded footage is not only possible but provides cost and time savings. In addition, the process may produce output that is less subject to the biases inherent in direct human observational auditing.