ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Medical researchers at the University of New South Wales in Australia have discovered that hand hygiene rates in hospital staff drop sharply when humans undertaking compliance monitoring are replaced by machines.

A government-led hand hygiene programme has been running in the country's hospitals for the past eight years, with human auditors ensuring staff follow hand hygiene guidelines, which require a minimum of 70 per cent compliance.

But compliance rates fell from more than 90 per cent to 30 per cent when the human auditors were relieved by automated surveillance, creating infection risks for patients, the study's authors said.

The researchers compared human and automated methods of surveillance in an Australian teaching hospital over two years. Automated surveillance consisted of hand hygiene dispensers at sinks and bedsides recording hand hygiene by touch, while human surveillance was direct observation of healthcare workers by human auditors.

"Regular hand hygiene among healthcare workers is a cornerstone of hospital hygiene to prevent the transmission of pathogens and potential infection," said lead author UNSW medicine professor MaryLouise McLaws, an infection control expert and World Health Organisation health adviser.

"In our study, we found that as soon as human eyes were off the clock outside of the mandatory 20-minute audit and our automated method continued to monitor compliance, hand hygiene compliance went from 94 per cent to 30 per cent - which is gravely concerning."

The study was publihsed in the American Journal of Infection Control.