Overall, hospitals have been improving hand hygiene practices, but in 2014, one in four still have not implemented all the safe practices and policies recommended for proper hand hygiene, according to a new report by The Leapfrog Group.
The 2014 report is based on data taken from the 2014 Leapfrog Hospital Survey of 1,501 U.S. hospitals and analyzed by Castlight Health. It examines how many hospitals meet all 10 of Leapfrog's hand hygiene practices.
To name a few, Leapfrog's practices include having hospitalwide hand hygiene education and training, submitting hand hygiene recommendations and results to the hospital board, holding clinical leadership accountable for compliance and implementing performance improvement programs.
Highlighted below are five findings from the report.
1. The percentage of hospitals meeting all 10 of Leapfrog's hand hygiene practices increased from 69 percent in 2013 to 77 percent in 2014.
2. For the fifth consecutive year, urban hospitals outperformed rural hospitals; about 20 percent more urban hospitals than rural hospitals met Leapfrog's standard and showed greater year-over-year improvement in meeting the standard.
3. The level of adoption of hand hygiene safe practices varies significantly state to state: In five states, more than 90 percent of reporting hospitals met all practices, while in six states, 60 percent or less of reporting hospitals met all practices.
4. Nearly all (99 percent) of reporting hospitals achieved hospitalwide education and training to prevent hospital-acquired infections related to inadequate hand hygiene.
5. Hospitals struggled to hold patient safety officers directly accountable for improving hand hygiene through performance reviews or compensation. Only 87 percent of reporting hospitals indicated having this practice in place.
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