This after a pilot project to improve hand-washing compliance in a small number of hospitals. NYT has the story: before the project, 50% compliance; now, 75%.
Why is this interesting? In the US there's 90,000 deaths due to health-care-associated infections every year. Unwashed hands are a major vector for these infections. It's a multi-billion dollar problem, again just in the US.
This short report [pdf] on the project is interesting throughout. The numbers are amazing, the final goal (90+% compliance) is still in the distance, and the practical approaches to getting there are at turns fascinating and bizarre.
Lean Six Sigma approach to hand washing? Really?
And for those of you wondering, this would be one of The Right Problems. Medical hand-washing compliance is low-hanging fruit with relatively cheap implementation costs and massive upside.
PS: I don't see it mentioned in these documents, but other studies I have read report that nurse hand-washing compliance is consistently better than doctor hand-washing compliance.
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