Hand hygiene helps prevent health care-associated infections. Prior studies have investigated methods to measure adherence to hand hygiene protocols and have attempted to determine the correlation between alcohol-based handrub consumption and hand hygiene adherence via direct observation in healthcare facilities or wards, but there remains need for methods measuring hand hygiene adherence in individual health care workers. The failure of even one worker to adhere to the hand hygiene protocols can increase the risk of infection. We aimed to examine the correlation between alcohol-based handrub consumption and adherence to hand hygiene protocols by direct observation in individual nurses.
We surveyed regarding alcohol-based handrub consumption and directly observed 17 nurses engage in hand hygiene practices at the University hospital in Japan.
There was a significant, positive and moderate correlation between alcohol-based handrub consumption among day shift nurses (mL/patient-day) and the rate of adherence to hand hygiene protocols (%) on direct observation [r = 0.543 (p = 0.045)].
Alcohol-based handrub consumption per patient-day during the day shift can be used to validate direct observation compliance rates of hand hygiene activities among individual nurses.