Focusing on Families and Visitors Reduces Healthcare Associated Respiratory Viral Infections in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Linam, W. Matthew; Marrero, Elizabeth M.; Honeycutt, Michele D.; Wisdom, Christy M.; Gaspar, Anna; Vijayan, Vini

Few studies have measured FVHH behavior in the hospital, but it is frequently below 10%. 18-20 Improvement efforts have included education, reminders, and supply availability. The transient nature of families and visitors create barriers to effective hand hygiene education. We were able to include a brief reminder to perform hand hygiene at the bedside as part of the visitor screening process. After the addition of this just-in-time education, the median FVHH increased to 85%. Compared with more passive forms of education, concise, direct verbal education/reminders may be more effective. Since families and visitors may be unfamiliar with the unit, it is also important to ensure their awareness of the location of hand hygiene supplies. Real-time reminders have played a role in sustained increases in HCW hand hygiene above 95%. [31] [32] [33] Although 99% of families and visitors performed hand hygiene when reminded by staff, reminders were only documented with 54% of failures. Our results highlight both the effectiveness and challenges of implementing real-time reminders.