ABSTRACT
The fundamental tool for preventing and controlling healthcare-acquired infections is hand hygiene [HH]. Nonetheless, adherence to HH guidelines is often low. Our goal was to assess the effect of the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium [INICC] Multidimensional Hand Hygiene Approach [IMHHA] in three intensive care units of three INICC member hospitals in two cities of India and to analyze the predictors of compliance with HH. From August 2004 to July 2011, we carried out an observational, prospective, interventional study to evaluate the implementation of the IMHHA, which included the following elements: [1] administrative support, [2] supplies availability, [3] education and training, [4] reminders in the workplace, [5] process surveillance and [6] performance feedback. The practices of health care workers were monitored during randomly selected 30-min periods. We observed 3612 opportunities for HH. Overall adherence to HH increased from 36.9% to 82% [95% CI 79.3-84.5; P = 0.0001]. Multivariate analysis indicated that certain variables were significantly associated with poor HH adherence: nurses vs. physicians [70.5% vs. 74%; 95% CI 0.62-0.96; P = 0.018], ancillary staff vs. physicians [43.6% vs. 74.0%; 95% CI 0.48-0.72; P < 0.001], ancillary staff vs. nurses [43.6% vs. 70.5%; 95% CI 0.51-0.75; P < 0.001] and private vs. academic hospitals [74.2% vs. 66.3%; 95% CI 0.83-0.97; P < 0.001]. It is worth noticing that in India, the HH compliance of physicians is higher than in nurses. Adherence to HH was significantly increased by implementing the IMHHA. Programs targeted at improving HH are warranted to identify predictors of poor compliance