VIPTA is a statewide infection prevention and control education collaborative, led by the Virginia Healthcare-Associated Infections Advisory Group. Through partnership, VIPTA curates IPC resources for Virginia’s healthcare, congregate care, and public health settings.
May 5th is World Hand Hygiene Day
Mark your calendars because May 5th is no ordinary day—it’s World Hand Hygiene Day! It’s time to roll up our sleeves and celebrate the power of clean hands in keeping us all healthy. We know it’s not always easy to find the right tools to keep those hands squeaky clean. Fear not, because we’ve got your back with an exciting bundle of resources that’ll make hand hygiene a breeze!
🛠️ Toolkit: APIC Toolkit for Patient Hand Hygiene
- About this resource: This toolkit is an all-encompassing resource designed to empower healthcare professionals like you to champion hand hygiene practices among patients and residents.
- Target Audience: Foundational IPC education
📽️ Video: Virginia Infection Prevention Training Center – Hand Hygiene with Florence Nightingale
- About this resource: Get ready to be entertained and educated when Florence Nightingale comes to life to tell a memorable and short story on how to perform hand hygiene and why it matters in healthcare.
- Target Audience: Foundational IPC education level
💻 Technology: Speedy Audit
- About this resource: Speedy Audit is a free resource to track and compile your hand hygiene audits. A 2023 study showed that using Speedy Audit reduced the amount of time to complete hand hygiene analysis when compared to a paper audit tool (Libero, G., Bordino, V., Garlasco, J., Vicentini, C., & Maria Zotti, C. (2023)).
- Target Audience: Foundational to Intermediate IPC education level
So, gear up, spread the word, and let’s make this World Hand Hygiene Day the cleanest one yet!
Carilion Clinic
The Carilion Clinic Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) team is engaging patients in the outpatient hand hygiene program. Infection prevention is a team effort, and everyone, including patients, has a role to play. Hand hygiene is the most crucial strategy for preventing infections, and through this program, Carilion is committed to providing the best patient care.
The Patient Feedback Monitoring Program invites patients at ambulatory sites to provide feedback on their providers’ hand hygiene. During their visits, patients receive feedback cards where they can indicate “yes,” “no,” or “unsure” if their provider performed hand hygiene before initiating physical contact. These data are compiled into a Tableau dashboard and shared with sites in real-time to evaluate compliance. The goal of this program is to highlight the importance of hand hygiene in the clinical setting and empower patients to be allies and advocates for infection prevention.
Since the program’s creation, the Carilion Clinic IPC team has been actively engaging ambulatory clinics and promoting the initiative, setting a goal for each clinic to submit 40 observations per month. Collaborating with the marketing and technology departments, the team ensured that the observation tools are accessible. The total number of outpatient hand hygiene observations increased from 12,311 in 2022 to 17,033 in 2023. As of July 2024, outpatient clinics have already collected 11,259 observations, and the year is only half over!
Carilion Clinic IPC Hand Hygiene Survey
