Safety & quality
Hand hygiene in hospitals generally refers to the use of soap and water or other products (such as alcohol-based hand rub) by healthcare workers to clean their hands. The aim is for healthcare workers to perform hand hygiene correctly at every opportunity, for example, before and after touching a patient. Good hand hygiene is one of the most effective ways to minimise the risk of healthcare-associated infections, such as Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections.
The National Hand Hygiene InitiativeExternal link, opens in a new window.[http://www.hha.org.au] is being progressively implemented in Australian hospitals to improve hand hygiene. Hand hygiene in hospitals is measured through an audit process, in which trained observers watch for opportunities (called ‘moments’) when hand washing or cleaning ought to occur in order to ensure good infection control.
The national benchmark is for healthcare workers to clean their hands correctly in at least 70.0% of these ‘moments’ observed during an audit period at a hospital. A higher number of audited 'moments' will generate a more reliable compliance rate estimate. Methods will be developed to enable fair comparison of the estimated compliance rate with the national benchmark and with results achieved by other hospitals.