A Multi-Center Evaluation of the Patient Empowerment Video Hand Hygiene Saves Lives

Background: Patient empowerment programs have been developed as a means to improve hand hygiene (HH) among healthcare personnel (HCP). A new video, Hand Hygiene Saves Lives, was created to encourage patients to ask HCP to perform HH.
Objective: We conducted a pre-post evaluation of the video to assess self-reported practices and attitudes regarding HCP HH.
Methods: Patients, physicians, and nurses from 17 hospitals in three states completed surveys one-month before (pre-phase) and one-month after (post-phase) the video was implemented at their hospital. Hospitals chose to implement the video in either a “passive” (e.g., using closed circuit TVs in patient and/or waiting rooms; 11 hospitals) or “active” (e.g., television with video was individually taken into patient rooms on rolling carts; 6 hospitals) manner.

Results: A total of 2490 pre- and post-surveys were included in the analysis (881 patient, 998 nurse, 611 physician). There were no statistically significant demographic differences between pre- and post-phase participants. The proportion of patients who reported asking their nurse to perform HH increased significantly from the pre- to post-phase (4.0% to 8.8%, p=0.004), while the proportion of patients who reported asking their physician to perform HH did not (4.0% to 5.2%, p=0.397). In contrast, the proportion of physicians who reported being asked by a patient to perform HH increased significantly from the pre- to post-phase (2.2% to 5.2%, p=0.043), while the proportion of nurses who reported being asked by a patient to perform HH did not (1.9% to 2.4%, p=0.540). In the post-phase, physicians were significantly more likely to report feeling comfortable and less likely to be bothered about being asked by a patient to perform HH in comparison to the pre-phase (comfortable: 75.5% to 83.6%, p=0.005; bothered: 22.0% to 15.4%, p=0.046). Patients from active hospitals were significantly more likely to report that they saw the video during their hospital stay (87.8% v. 52.9%, p<0.001), that the video is a useful tool to educate patients about HH (97.7% v. 87.8%, p=0.004), and that they would recommend the video be shown to patients (96.1% v. 86.4%, p=0.009) than those from passive hospitals. Overall, patients reported viewing the video during their hospital stay (70.5%), upon admission (20.9%), before admission (7.5%), or at another time (1.5%); in locations such as their hospital room (84.9%), a pre-operative area (11.7%), a waiting room (1.9%), or other area (2.3%).

Conclusions: Tools such as the Hand Hygiene Saves Lives video appear to be a promising method for empowering patients to ask their HCP to perform HH and may improve HH adherence in healthcare settings. A better understanding of the optimal strategies for implementing patient empowerment programs as well as how both patients and HCP incorporate and act upon this information may maximize the impact on HH adherence.