Videos in Clinical Medicine

Hand Hygiene

Yves Longtin, M.D., Hugo Sax, M.D., Benedetta Allegranzi, M.D., Franck Schneider, and Didier Pittet, M.D.

N Engl J Med 2011; 364:e24March 31, 2011

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About the Procedure

Health-care associated infections are a threat to patient safety and the most common adverse events resulting from a stay in the hospital.1 Approximately 5 to 10% of hospitalized patients in the developed world acquire such infections, and the burden of disease is even higher in developing countries. Proper use of hand hygiene is a critical to the prevention of these infections, but compliance among health care workers is most often below 40%. . . . .

The WHO takes no responsibility for the information provided or the views expressed in this article.

Supported in part by a grant from the Swiss National Research Fund (FN 3200B0-122324) and by the University of Geneva Hospitals.

Drs. Longtin and Sax contributed equally to this article.

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at NEJM.org.

We thank all members of the Infection Control Program, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, for their dedication to improving patient safety, Rosemary Sudan for editorial assistance, Otto Zingg for his technical assistance with the video, and Christa Prins for the photographs in this article.

References

References

1. 1

   WHO guidelines on hand hygiene in health care. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2009. (http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241597906_eng.pdf.)
   

2. 2

   Pittet D, Hugonnet S, Harbarth S, et al. Effectiveness of a hospital-wide programme to improve compliance with hand hygiene. Lancet 2000;356:1307-1312[Erratum, Lancet 2000;356:2196.]
   CrossRef | Web of Science | Medline

3. 3

   Boyce JM, Pittet D. Guideline for hand hygiene in health-care settings. recommendations of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee and the HICPAC/SHEA/APIC/IDSA Hand Hygiene Task Force. MMWR Recomm Rep 2002;51:1-45, CE1
   Medline

4. 4

   Pittet D, Allegranzi B, Sax H, et al. Evidence-based model for hand transmission during patient care and the role of improved practices. Lancet Infect Dis 2006;6:641-652
   CrossRef | Web of Science | Medline

5. 5

   Sax H, Allegranzi B, Uckay I, Larson E, Boyce J, Pittet D. `My five moments for hand hygiene': a user-centered design approach to understand, train, monitor and report hand hygiene. J Hosp Infect 2007;67:9-21
   CrossRef | Web of Science | Medline

6. 6

   Allegranzi B, Memish ZA, Donaldson L, Pittet D. Religion and culture: potential undercurrents influencing hand hygiene promotion in health care. Am J Infect Control 2009;37:28-34
   CrossRef | Web of Science | Medline

Citing Articles (2)

Citing Articles

1. 1

   Giovanni Battista Orsi, Marco Falcone, Mario Venditti. (2011) Surveillance and management of multidrug-resistant microorganisms. Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy 9:8, 653-679
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2. 2

   Dilia Giuggioli, Andreina Manfredi, Michele Colaci, Federica Lumetti, Clodoveo Ferri. (2011) Scleroderma digital ulcers complicated by infection with faecal pathogens. Arthritis Care & Researchn/a-n/a
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