The COVID-19 pandemic as a factor of hospital staff compliance with the rules of hand hygiene: assessment of the usefulness of the "Clean Care is a Safer Care" program as a tool to enhance compliance with hand hygiene principles in hospitals.

INTRODUCTION: Hand cleansing and disinfection is the most efficient method for reducing the rates of hospital-acquired infections which are a serious medical and economic problem. Striving to ensure the maximum safety of the therapeutic process, we decided to promote hand hygiene by implementing the educational program titled "Clean Care is a Safer Care". The occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic affected the compliance with procedures related to the sanitary regime, including the frequency and accuracy of hand decontamination by medical personnel. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to assess the usefulness of the educational program titled "Clean Care is a Safer Care" as a tool for increasing compliance with hand hygiene principles. METHODS: We monitored the compliance with the hygiene procedure before implementation of the program as well as during the hand hygiene campaign by means of direct observation as well as the disinfectant consumption rates. RESULTS: In the initial self-assessment survey, the hospital had scored 270/500 points (54%). Preliminary audit revealed the hygiene compliance rate at the level of 49%. After broad-scaled educational efforts, the semi-annual audit revealed an increase in hand hygiene compliance rate up to 81% (hospital average) while the final audit carried out after one year of campaigning revealed a compliance rate of 77%. The final score for the hospital increased to 435/500 points. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 pandemic dramatically increased accuracy of proper hand hygiene procedures and consumption of disinfectant agents. The educational program has succeeded to reach its goal; however, long-term educational efforts are required to maintain and improve the quality of provided services.