"If the glove fits": Hospital-wide universal gloving is associated with improved hand hygiene and may reduce Clostridioides difficile infection.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To determine whether a hospital-wide universal gloving program resulted in increased hand hygiene compliance and reduced inpatient Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) rates.

DESIGN:

We carried out a multiple-year before-and-after quasi-experimental quality improvement study. Gloving and hand hygiene compliance data as well as hospital-acquired infection rates were prospectively collected from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2017, by secret monitors.

SETTINGS:

The University of Rochester Strong Memorial Hospital, an 849-bed quaternary-care teaching hospital.

PATIENTS:

All adult inpatients with the exception of patients in the obstetrics unit.

INTERVENTIONS:

A hospital-wide universal gloving protocol was initiated on January 1, 2016.

RESULTS:

Hand hygiene compliance increased from 68% in 2015 reaching an average of 88% by 2017 (P < .0002). A 10% increase in gloving per unit was associated with a 1.13-fold increase in the odds of hand hygiene (95% credible interval, 1.12-1.14). The rates of CDI decreased from 1.05 infections per 1,000 patient days in 2015 to 0.74 in 2017 (P < .04).

CONCLUSION:

A universal gloving initiative was associated with a statistically significant increase in both gloving and hand hygiene compliance. CDI rates decreased during this intervention.

• Authors: Paritosh Prasad, Lynne Brown, Shiyang Ma, Andrew McDavid, Andrew Rudmann, David Lent, Patricia Reagan-Webster, E Kate Valcin, Paul Graman, Michael Apostolakos
• Journal: Infection control and hospital epidemiology (Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol) Vol. 42 Issue 11 Pg. 1351-1355 (11 2021) ISSN: 1559-6834 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 33888164 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Topics

• Adult
• Clostridioides
• Clostridium Infections (epidemiology, prevention & control)
• Cross Infection (epidemiology, prevention & control)
• Hand Disinfection
• Hand Hygiene
• Hospitals, Teaching
• Humans
• Infection Control