with frontline staff and man-
agers to walk around their
unit and ask them where
they need more hand
hygiene opportunities.
Ms. Patrick: Some facilities
also do "secret shopper"
observations. But a lot of
times, staff can easily identi-
fy what's going on. When I
would do observations,
some of them would catch on that I'm not just there to sit at the desk
and hang out. Electric monitoring systems can help, but they come
with an added cost. The best thing is to engrain it in the culture. If
someone sees someone not complying, they should feel comfortable
enough to urge him to wash his hands, or even take a bottle of alco-
hol-based rub and dispense it out.
Ms. Groven: We've had success with doing real-time observations and
posting monthly results in our break room, broken down by depart-
ment. But we also ask patients to get involved. We hand out forms
that patients can fill out to say whether or not they saw their clinician
washing their hands. When we only posted staff observation results,
we would hear providers say that the scores weren't accurate since
the employee couldn't see them washing their hands in the room.
Well, the patient is in the room, and they now let us know whether or
not they're complying.
What are the most common mistakes facilities make during room turnover?
8 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • M A R C H 2 0 1 6
• GERM KILLER Good hand hygiene among staffers and doctors is the best
defense against cross-contamination.
