According to a recent survey, while 82 per cent of health care workers are aware of their organisation’s hand hygiene policy, only 39 per cent follow it at all times.

Late last year, GP PRO conducted proprietary research with health care clinicians on the hand hygiene compliance rate within their organisation.

The study found that of those aware of their facility’s method for monitoring, 51 per cent stated direct observation is the primary monitoring method.

Other methods identified include self-reporting (15 per cent), product usage (13 per cent), patient satisfaction surveys (11 per cent), and an electronic monitoring system (9 per cent).

According to GP PRO’s research, only 12 per cent of clinicians believe in the accuracy of their facility’s monitoring method and 98 per cent of respondents believe the process for collecting hand hygiene compliance data needs to be improved.

“The good news here is that clinicians know what’s expected of them when it comes to hand hygiene, and that’s likely in large part due to consistent communications by infection preventionists throughout the pandemic,” said Ronnie Phillips, Ph.D., GP PRO’s health care division senior director of innovation with.

“Clinicians are in the know about their facility’s policy and, surely, that they work in an environment prone to cross contamination during a worldwide pandemic. So why is compliance holding steady at around 40%? That’s what we need to solve. What’s preventing clinicians from following best practices, and what can we do about it?”

This article was first published by 

Comment below to have your say on this story.

If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at info@incleanmag.co.nz. 

Sign up to INCLEAN NZ’s newsletter.