History of the Program

CHRISP invested in research to gain an understanding of the behavioural elements of hand hygiene:

• Whitby M, McLaws ML, Ross MW. Why healthcare workers don't wash their hands: a behavioural explanation. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2006 May;27(5):484-92. [PMID: 16671030]
• Whitby M, Pessoa-Silva CL, McLaws ML, Allegranzi B, Sax H, Larson E, Seto WH, Donaldson L, Pittet D. Behavioural considerations for hand hygiene practices: the basic building blocks. J Hosp Infect 2007 Jan;65(1):1-8 [PMID: 17145101]

Utilise research findings and review of literature in the design of the Queensland Health multi modal hand hygiene program

Engagement of marketing consultants to design an effective hand hygiene program logo and tagline

Engagement of management consultants to design implementation strategy of program. Focus of implementation strategy is on changing Queensland Health culture and healthcare worker behaviour

Engagement of team development services to facilitate team development activities with appropriate stakeholders across the state

The clean hands are life savers program was launched

Education provided to HH champions on program goals, components and implementation strategy

Funding provided centrally for the provision of alcoholic hand rub at the point of care within all acute care facilities

A state wide database was built to record and report on healthcare workers hand hygiene compliance

$40,000 funding provided to each Queensland Health district to assist with implementation of the program

Recruitment of lifesavers - 5 to 10% of healthcare workers within each facility

Facilitation of team development sessions across the state with lifesavers. Approximately 400 lifesavers attend team development sessions

Education provided to HH champions on change management strategies

Pocket PC's purchased and implemented state wide to facilitate electronic hand hygiene compliance data collection

On line learning program developed to provide a cost effective means to educate people on the program

In response to poor hand hygiene compliance, CHRISP commences a Medical Leadership program

Review of program components undertaken. Forum held with HH champions to review evaluation and identify recommendations for future action

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare (ACSQHC) commences the National Hand Hygiene Initiative which aims to develop a national and systematic approach to improving hand hygiene and monitor its effectiveness.  Delivery of the NHHI has been assigned to a central project team - Hand Hygiene Australia (HHA)

59 Hospitals observe 23,000 hand hygiene observations of healthcare workers hand hygiene compliance in the first quarter of 2010

Queensland health aligns its education, auditing and reporting methodologies to the National Hand Hygiene Initiative

Queensland Health participates in National Hand Hygiene "5 moments for HH gold standard auditor validation". 135 people from across Queensland Health are validated as gold standard auditors

The Queensland Health hand hygiene program continues to focus on changing healthcare workers behaviour and embedding within each facility the importance of good hand hygiene practices. The program has achieved significant success demonstrated by overall hand hygiene compliance improving by 35% since the program commenced. Whilst this improvement is commendable further work is still required to maintain the high standards